Orange roughy could bounce back from its bad environmental rap, and return to dinner tables, following the discovery of big new stocks.

The once-popular fish was placed on numerous "do not eat" lists around the world amid questions over its sustainability.
 
A number of major US supermarket chains refuse to sell it because orange roughy, found in deep waters around the Chatham Islands and on the Tasman Rise, is long lived and slow to reproduce.

Nelson based Sealord - half-owned by iwi and a Japanese company - claims to have the evidence to prove there is plenty of orange roughy.

Its vessel Otakou returns to Nelson today, with scientists from the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia and the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) on board, from a survey of the Northwest Chatham Region.

Data suggests the orange roughy stock is in good shape, the company said.

"A growing body of evidence is showing orange roughy stocks are in good health and we know discerning consumers are looking for sustainable fish," Sealord executive Doug Paulin said.

Last week MPI released its Fisheries Assessment Report where scientist Pamela Mace revealed "a new and substantial group of orange roughy on the Chatham Rise".

Orange roughy, one of New Zealand's more lucrative catches, had been under stress due to over-fishing in the '80s and '90s.

New Zealand exports around $51 million a year in orange roughy, mainly to the US.

Under MPI rules the current total allowable commercial catch in the 2009/10 year for orange roughy was 11,062 tonnes.

- © Fairfax NZ News