Louisiana Foods Fish Fact for:
HOKI

To modify an old cliche, hoki (Macru-ronus novaezelandiae) are piscine proof that good things come in ugly packages. On the outside, the fish is no looker, but rather a homely, rat-tailed specimen that makes many of its relatives in the Merluccidae (hake) family beauty queens by comparison. On the inside, though, hoki are appreciated for their mild, white fillets, which turn up everywhere from U.S. fish fryers to Japanese bento boxes. Not the most glamorous markets, to be sure, but important ones, nevertheless. And with recent harvests in New Zealand topping 200,000 tons, hoki will likely maintain its reputation as a good, reliable alternative to cod, pollock and hake, sort of the Miss Congeniality of whitefish

Species Specifics
  • Despite its whiptail shape and the fact that it's commonly called "blue grenadier" in New Zealand, a hoki is neither whiptail nor grenadier; it's a hake.
  • Although they're considered a deepwater species, hoki often disperse into the water column in the evening, rising to within a few hundred feet of the surface.
  • Female hoki reach sexual maturity between four and seven years of age. Although they grow slower than males, they reach a greater maximum size.
  • New Zealand is far and away the world's leading supplier of hoki. The 1995 quota of 220,000 tons is more than double that of Japan's catch, the next nearest hoki hauler with a harvest of around 100,000 tons.
  • Although hoki are caught year-round, the peak of the New Zealand season runs from late June to September when the fish swarm to spawn.

Hot for Hoki
With orange roughy catches in decline, hoki is increasingly New Zealand's most important fishery, and it's growing. The 1995 quota is up 20% from 1994, and government officials suggest the species could handle even higher catches: "The stock assessment for hoki suggests the fishery is in a healthy state and may be able to sustain a substantially higher level of removals," noted fisheries minister Doug Kidd in fishing News International last fall.

Catching the Catchers
Because hoki swarm to spawn, they present a tempting target to fishermen. Too tempting to some, it seems. Last fall, New Zealand authorities seized four Russian and Ukrainian factory trawlers that were caught fishing for hoki illegally. The boats were caught fishing in a conservation zone around the Hokitika Trench, a major hoki spawning ground off the west coast of the South Island. That'll teach 'em.

The above information is from the Seafood Leader.
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