Louisiana Foods Fish Fact for:
ORANGE ROUGHY

Orange roughy is firm in texture, mild in taste and yields a whiter-than-white fillet. Put the three together, and you have a best seller at almost any price. But finding orange roughy is a little bit like chasing after the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow always just out of reach. New Zealand came closest to getting its hands on it, with soaring catches in the early 1980's, but then it started to slip away. The quota dropped from a peak of 55,000 tons to 28,000 tons today. Australia had a good whack at it earlier in the decade, catching upwards of 38,000 tons, then dropping to under 10,000. In 1991, the French (fishing west of the U.K.) touched it, but got burned. After hauling up 5,000 tons (and calling it a "miracle"), the fishery fell off in the midst of massive investment (as miracle became mirage). Don't despair, though. New Zealand and Australia still have orange roughy, not more than ever, but better than ever as they concentrate less on volume and more on quality and value-added products. As for the mother lode, it's got to be out there - somewhere...

Species Specifics
  • Orange roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus is a deepwater species found on continental slopes at depths between 300 - 700 fathoms.
  • While orange roughy are widely distributed along New Zealand's continental slope, local aggregations (either for spawning or feeding) are the focus of commercial effort.
  • The single largest fishery for orange roughy is on New Zealand's north Chatham Rise, with a harvest of almost 15,000 tons in 1994.
  • The average length of an orange roughy is 18-22 inches with a weight of 3.3 pounds.
  • Orange roughy is bright orange with an oversized head that comprises almost 40% of the fish. Hence, the yield from whole fish to skinless boneless fillets is about 25%.
  • The "King of the Abyss" is slow growing, long lived and has a low productivity - combination that means a slow replacement rate and a high susceptibility to overfishing.

South African Roughy?
It's mostly wishful thinking at this stage, but South Africa is taking the plunge, literally, to depths of 1,600 meters to explore the possibility of a deepwater trawl fishery for orange roughy, oreo dory and other species. One Cape Town company has been granted a permit by the government to conduct the experimental fishing. Seamounts off the western coast are believed to hold the most promise. With South Africa's capensis fishery having reached a mature state, the hunt is on for new fisheries.

The above information is from the Seafood Leader Vol. 15, No. 5.
  next FAQ ... oysters

Louisiana Foods Logo with picture of fish, crab, shrimp, crawfish

Fried Turkey | Catfish | Boudin (Cajun Sausage) | Red Beans
Jambalaya | Sausage Gumbo | Red Snapper | Alligator Tail Meat
Turtle Meat | Shrimp | Shrimp Creole | Crawfish
Crawfish Etouffee | Crawfish Bisque Crab | Clams | Calamare & Conch
Stuffed Red Snapper | Stuffed Shrimp | Stuffed Crab | Stuffed Chicken
Market Home Page | Recipes | Our Staff | Letters | Fish FAQs
Gallery | Links | Home Page | How to Order