Download FAR 2025/35 Characterisation and CPUE for the alfonsino fishery in BYX 2 and BYX 3 from 1990 to 2023

Alfonsino stocks in the Quota Management System include two related species, but most of the catch is of splendid alfonsio, Beryx splendens, a species that occurs globally but with poorly understood population dynamics.

The New Zealand alfonsino fishery occurs off the southern east coast of the North Island, and on the eastern Chatham Rise, north and south-east of the Chatham Islands. Alfonsino is caught by a mix of bottom and midwater trawling.

Analyses of commercial catch rates have demonstrated that alfonsino abundance trends are different in the four main areas of the fishery. The reasons for the differing trends are not well understood. More extensive biological sampling, aimed at monitoring the age structure of alfonsino in the different areas over time, is recommended.