Review of sustainability measures for fisheries – October 2025 round

Updates

15 October 2025 – Advice papers released

29 September 2025 – Minister’s decisions released

Following this consultation, the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries has made decisions on sustainability measures for the selected fish stocks.

Find out about the decisions

July 2025 – Proposed changes for orange roughy and blue mackerel

Fisheries New Zealand also proposed changes to sustainability measures for orange roughy (ORH 3B) and blue mackerel (EMA 1) for the 2025–26 fishing year. Details of those proposals are on a separate web page.

Review of sustainability measures for orange roughy (ORH 3B) and blue mackerel (EMA 1) – 2025 October round

Decisions and summary tables

The outcome of this consultation was released on 29 September 2025. On 15 October, we released the advice papers. A summary of the submissions we received will be released within a few weeks.

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Minister's decision letter and advice papers

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The minister's decision letter provides details and reasons for each of the decisions.

The decision letter – Minister for Oceans and Fisheries [PDF, 464 KB]

Advice papers

Decisions for the 2025 October sustainability round – Tranche A [PDF, 8.7 MB]

Decisions for the 2025 October sustainability round – Tranche B [PDF, 9.9 MB]

Decisions for the 2025 October sustainability round – Orange Roughy [PDF, 2.9 MB]

Summary table of the minister’s decisions for each species and fishing area

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Species	Stock/area	Change	Decision summary
Anchovy / kokowhaawhaa, Garfish / takeke, Sprat / kupae and Yellow-eyed mullet / Aua	ANC 1 – Hauraki Gulf, Northland, Auckland and Bay of Plenty	TAC	Retain the TAC at 215 tonnes Retain the TACC and non-commercial allowances
	GAR 1 – Hauraki Gulf, Northland, Auckland and Bay of Plenty	TAC	Retain the TAC at 55 tonnes Retain the TACC and non-commercial allowances
	SPR 1 – North Island	TAC	Retain the TAC at 100 tonnes Retain the TACC and non-commercial allowances
	YEM 1 – Hauraki Gulf, Northland, Auckland and Bay of Plenty	TAC	Retain the TAC at 50 tonnes Retain the TACC and non-commercial allowances
Jack mackerel / hauture	JMA 1 – East Coast North Island	TAC ↓	Set the TAC at 8,122 tonnes Set the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing at 10 tonnes Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 32 tonnes Set the allowance for all other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 80 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 10,000 to 8,000 tonnes.
Smooth skate / uku	SSK 1 – East Coast of the North Island and south coast of Wellington	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 40 to 86 tonnes Increase the allowance for all other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 1 to 47 tonnes
Blue cod / rāwaru	BCO 8 – Taranaki, West Coast of Wellington	TAC ↓, Recreational daily limit ↓	Decrease the TAC from 226 to 16 tonnes Decrease the allowance for recreational fishing from 188 to 8 tonnes Decrease the allowance for all other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 2 to 1 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 34 to 5 tonnes Reduce the recreational daily limit from 10 to 2 per person per day
Pāua	PAU 2 – East Cape, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Wellington	TAC ↓	Decrease the TAC from 192.188 to 180 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 121.188 to 109 tonnes
Pāua	PAU 5A – Fiordland	TAC ↓	Set the TAC at 102 tonnes Set the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing at 5 tonnes Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 5 tonnes Set the allowance for all other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 3 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 148.98 to 89 tonnes
Rough skate / uku	RSK 3 – East Coast South Island, Southland	TAC ↓	Decrease the TAC from 1,672 to 830 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 17 to 40 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 1,653 to 788 tonnes
Rig / pioke, makō, mango and Snapper / tāmure	SPO 7 – Top of the South and West Coast South Island	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 373 to 406 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 27 to 30 tonnes Increase the TACC from 298 to 328 tonnes
Rig / pioke, makō, mango and Snapper / tāmure	SNA 7 – Top of the South and West Coast South Island	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 1,116 to 1,214 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 61 to 69 tonnes Increase the TACC from 720 to 810 tonnes
Green-lipped mussels / kuku, kutai, Horse mussels / Kukuroroa, Kupa, Hururoa, and Dredge oysters	GLM 7A – Top of the South Island	TAC	TAC decisions for GLM 7A, HOR 7 and OYS 7 are deferred for a short period to permit further engagement.
	HOR 7 – Top of the South Island	TAC
	OYS 7 – Top of the South Island	TAC
Blue cod / rāwaru	BCO 3 – East Coast South Island	TAC ↓, Recreational daily limit ↓	Decrease the TAC from 243 to 192 tonnes Decrease the allowance for recreational fishing from 83 to 60 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 10 to 13 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 130 to 99 tonnes Reduce the recreational daily limit from 15 to 10 per person per day
Blue cod / rāwaru	BCO 5 – Southland	Recreational daily limit ↓	Reduce the recreational daily limit from 15 to 10 blue cod per person per day
Blue mackerel / tawatawa	EMA 7 – West Coast of North Island and South Island	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 3,352 to 5,082 tonnes Increase the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing from 1 to 2 tonnes Increase the allowance for recreational fishing from 1 to 5 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 0 to 50 tonnes Increase the TACC from 3,350 to 5,025 tonnes
Gemfish / Maka-taharaki, Maka-tikati, Tiikati	SKI 3 – South Island, Chatham Rise	TAC ↑	Increase both the SKI 3 TAC and SKI 7 TAC from 1,433 to 2,294 tonnes Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 1 tonne Increase the allowance for all other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 14 to 23 tonnes Increase the TACC from 1,418 tonnes to 2,269 tonnes
Gemfish / Maka-taharaki, Maka-tikati, Tiikati	SKI 7 – West Coast off Taranaki and Wellington, South Island	TAC ↑
Silver warehou	SWA 3 – East Coast of the South Island	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 4,040 to 4,646 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 40 to 46 tonnes Increase the TACC from 4,000 to 4,600 tonnes
Silver warehou	SWA 4 – Southland, Sub-Antarctic and Chatham Islands	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 5,227 to 5,488 tonnes Increase the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing from 52 to 54 tonnes Increase the TACC from 5,175 to 5,434 tonnes
Leatherjacket / kokiri, Frostfish / hikau, Alfonsino, Dark ghost shark and Redbait	LEA 1 – East and west coasts of Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty	TAC ↓	Decrease the TAC from 203 to 152 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 188 to 137 tonnes
	FRO 1 – East Coast of Auckland and Northland, Bay of Plenty	TAC ↓	Decrease the TAC from 151 to 115 tonnes Set the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at two tonnes Decrease the TACC from 149 to 111 tonnes
	BYX 7 – West Coast and top of South Island	TAC ↓	Set the TAC at 63.4 tonnes Set the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing at 1 tonne Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 1 tonne Set the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 1 tonne Decrease the TACC from 80.5 tonnes to 60.4 tonnes
	GSH 7 – Top of the South and West Coast South Island	TAC ↓	Decrease the TAC from 1,121 to 618 tonnes Increase the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing from 0 to 1 tonne Increase the allowance for recreational fishing from 0 to 1 tonne Set an allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 56 tonnes Reduce the TACC from 1,121 to 560 tonnes
	RBT 3 – East Coast South Island	TAC ↑	Increase the TAC from 2,305 to 2,766 tonnes Set the allowance for Māori customary non-commercial fishing at 0 tonnes Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 0 tonnes Set the allowance for other mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 138 tonnes Increase the TACC from 2,190 tonnes to 2,628 tonnes
Snapper / tāmure, School shark / tupere, Rig / mango, Blue cod / rāwaru, Blue mackerel / tawatawa, and Gemfish / maka-taharaki	SNA 7 – Top of the South and West Coast South Island	DVs ↓	Decrease the interim, annual, and standard differential deemed value rates for SNA 7
	SCH 5 – Southland and Sub-Antarctic	DVs ↓	Decided to decrease the interim, annual, and standard differential deemed value rates for SCH 5
	SPO 7 – Top of the South and West Coast South Island, SPO 8 – Taranaki and Wellington West Coast	DVs ↑	Increase the interim, annual, and standard differential deemed value rates for both SPO 7 and SPO 8
	BCO 3 – East Coast South Island	DVs ↑	Increase the interim, annual, and standard differential deemed value rates for BCO 3
	EMA 7 – west coast North and South Islands	DVs ↓	Decrease the differential deemed value rates
	SKI 3 – South Island, Chatham Rise, SKI 7 – West Coast off Taranaki and Wellington, South Island	DVs ↓	Decrease the differential deemed value rates

Consultation background

Fisheries New Zealand reviews catch limits for selected stocks twice a year. This is consistent with the purpose of the Fisheries Act 1996 to allow for sustainable utilisation.

We consulted on proposed changes to sustainability measures for a range of fish stocks as part of the October 2025 sustainability round.

In this round, we’ve reviewed catch limits and allowances for:

Anchovy (ANC 1), Garfish (GAR 1), Sprat (SPR 1), Yellow-eyed mullet (YEM 1) - Hauraki Gulf, Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty
Jack mackerel (JMA 1) – East Coast North Island
Smooth skate (SSK 1) – Auckland, Northland, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Wairarapa, south coast of Wellington
Blue cod (BCO 8) – Taranaki, West Coast of Wellington
Paua (PAU 2) – East Cape, Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki and Wellington
Paua (PAU 5A) – Fiordland
Rough skate (RSK 3) – East Coast South Island
Rig (SPO7) and Snapper (SNA 7) – West Coast and top of the South Island
Green-lipped mussel (GLM 7), Horse mussel (HOR 7), and Oyster (OYS 7) – Top of the South Island
Blue cod (BCO 3) – East Coast South Island
Blue cod (BCO 5) – Southland
Blue mackerel (EMA 7) – West Coast North Island, West Coast South Island
Gemfish (SKI 3 and 7) – South Island, Chatham Islands, West Coast off Taranaki and Wellington
Silver warehou (SWA 3 and 4) – East Coast South Island, Southland, Chatham Islands, Sub-Antarctic
Leatherjacket (LEA 1), Frostfish FRO 1), Alfonsino (BYX 7), Dark ghost shark (GSH 7), Redbait (RBT 3) – East and West Coasts of Auckland, Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty, West Coast and top of the South Island (inshore and offshore), East Coast South Island (offshore)

We’ve also reviewed deemed value rates for:

Snapper (SNA 7) – West Coast and top of the South Island
Blue mackerel (EMA 7) – West Coast North and South Island
Rig (SPO 7 and 8) – West Coast and top of the South Island, West Coast off Taranaki and Wellington
Blue cod (BCO 3) – East Coast South Island
Gemfish (SKI 3 and 7) – South Islands, Chatham Islands, West Coast off Taranaki, Wellington
School shark (SCH 5) – Southland and Sub-Antarctic

Fisheries New Zealand also reviewed sustainability measures for Orange roughy (ORH 3B) and blue mackerel (EMA 1) as a part of this sustainability round.

We invited feedback from tangata whenua, stakeholders, and the public on the proposals.

These reviews were assessed:

in the context of the relevant statutory requirements
using the best available information, including the latest scientific information on the status of the stocks and tangata whenua and stakeholder input.

Full details are provided in the consultation documents. This web page also has a summary of the proposals.

Submissions on all proposals closed at 5pm on 30 July 2025.

Consultation documents

Species	Stock/area	Consultation document
Anchovy, Garfish, Sprat and Yellow-eyed mullet	ANC 1	Review of sustainability measures for anchovy (ANC 1), garfish (GAR 1), yellow-eyed mullet (YEM 1), and sprat (SPR 1) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.5 MB]
	GAR 1
	SPR 1
	YEM 1
Jack mackerel	JMA 1	Review of sustainability measures for jack mackerel (JMA 1) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.2 MB]
Smooth skate	SSK 1	Review of sustainability measures for smooth skate (SSK 1) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.1 MB]
Blue cod	BCO 8	Review of sustainability measures for blue cod (BCO 8) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Pāua	PAU 2	Review of sustainability measures for pāua (PAU 2) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Pāua	PAU 5A	Review of sustainability measures for pāua (PAU 5A) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.6 MB]
Rough skate	RSK 3	Review of sustainability measures for rough skate (RSK 3) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Rig and Snapper	SPO 7	Review of sustainability measures for rig (SPO 7) and snapper (SNA 7) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.6 MB]
Rig and Snapper	SNA 7
Green-lipped mussels, Horse mussels, and Dredge oysters	GLM 7A	Review of sustainability measures for green-lipped mussels (GLM 7A), horse mussels (HOR 7), and dredge oysters (OYS 7) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1 MB]
	HOR 7
	OYS 7
Blue cod	BCO 3	Review of sustainability measures for blue cod (BCO 3) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Blue cod	BCO 5	Southland recreational blue cod review: Daily limit review and potential measures to improve the health of the BCO 5 fishery [PDF, 1 MB]
Blue mackerel	EMA 7	Review of sustainability measures for blue mackerel (EMA 7) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.4 MB]
Gemfish	SKI 3	Review of sustainability measures for gemfish (SKI 3 and SKI 7) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Gemfish	SKI 7
Silver warehou	SWA 3	Review of sustainability measures for silver warehou (SWA 3 and SWA 4) for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Silver warehou	SWA 4
Leatherjacket, Frostfish, Alfonsino, Dark ghost shark and Redbait	LEA 1	Review of sustainability measures for 5 low-medium knowledge stocks for 2025/26 [PDF, 1.6 MB]
	FRO 1
	BYX 7
	GSH 7
	RBT 3
Snapper, School shark, Rig, Blue cod, Blue mackerel and Gemfish	SNA 7	Review of deemed value rates for selected stocks for 2025/26 [PDF, 2.3 MB]
	SCH 5
	SPO 7, SPO 8
	BCO 3
	EMA 7
	SKI 3, SKI 7

Supporting document

Information on the interpretation and application of the statutory considerations relevant to TAC decisions is in the Legal Appendix.

Legal Appendix: Overview of legislative requirements and other considerations in relation to sustainability measures, October 2025 round [PDF, 389 KB]

Related information

Fisheries Act 1996 – NZ Legislation

Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000 – NZ Legislation

About the Quota Management System (QMS)

The Harvest Strategy Standard [PDF, 240KB]

Operational Guidelines for New Zealand's Harvest Strategy Standard [PDF, 843 KB]

The Deemed Values Guidelines [PDF, 896 KB]

Glossary of relevant terms

National Fisheries Plan for deepwater and middle-depth fisheries [PDF, 1.4 MB]

Regional plan provisions and policy statements [PDF, 324 KB]

Fisheries Infosite

Fisheries Assessment Plenary

National Inshore Finfish Fisheries Plan [PDF, 10 MB]

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation