Orange Roughy
Orange Roughy, Red Roughy, or Deep Sea Perch is a relatively large deep-sea fish, famous for its extraordinary lifespan which can last up to 149 years in some case. The fish is bright brick red-orange with rough scales when alive, which fades to a yellowish orange shade after death.
It is considered gourmet food and is mostly sold skinned and filleted, either fresh or frozen. The firm white flesh, has a mild flavor, is low in Saturated Fat and rich in protein and selenium. It is however also known to be a very high cholestrol fish.
It is found in the waters of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific, in countries like Iceland, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Nambia and Chile. The main source being New Zealand where it is known as slimehead, Nambia and Australia.
Contents |
[edit] Description
Orange Roughy have a bright reddish orange head and body and their mouth and gill cavities are black. Their head is covered with bony ridges and deep mucus cavities. The dorsal fin has 6 spines (the last one being the longest) and 15-18 rays.
They mainly live in deep, cold (4°-7°C) waters over steel continental middle and lower slopes and oceanic ridges. They have been recorded from as deep as 1809 metres in the north Atlantic Ocean. In Australia they live in waters from 700m to at least 1400m, on the continental shelf slope between Port Stephens in New South Wales and Cape Naturaliste in Western Australia. They are also found on the South Tasman Rise, Cascade Plateau and Lord Howe Rise.
Orange Roughy have been found over both flat bottoms and steep rough grounds, such as pinnacles and canyons. They are an opportunistic feeder and eats small fish, crustaceans and squid.
[edit] Lifespan
Orange Roughy are believed to be slow growers and natural mortality is probably low. Although a reliable ageing technique is yet to be developed, radiometric ageing techniques suggest that Orange Roughy can live to at least 149 years. Maturity is thought to occur between 20 and 32 years, when the fish are 28-32cm long and weigh between 500 and 800g.
That is, although, Orange Roughy live until 140 years, it does not reproduce until it reaches 30 years old. Constant fishing pressure means juvenile fish are being caught long before they can reproduce and maintain healthy stock levels. Years of heavy fishing have decimated the orange roughy populations.
[edit] Deep-Sea Fishing Disaster
The Orange Roughy fishery is about 25 years old. When large aggregations of the fish were first found by adventurous deep-sea fishermen, it started a gold-rush phenomenon in the search for new fishery resources.
It is estimated that over one million tonnes of fish have been landed since the fishery began. The fishery began almost by chance as the over-fishing and depletion of inshore stocks and the declaration of the 200 nautical mile exclusion zone forced commercial fishermen to begin to search for new ocean resources. The advent of new technology, more powerful gear and boats also made it easier to fishermen to leave the waters of the continental shelves and move out to the deep-sea.
But the deep-sea environment is different. Practices that have been used in coastal fisheries cannot be used to exploit deep-sea fisheries in any kind of sustainable way, as the Orange Roughy gold miners learned to their dismay.
The Orange Roughy fishery was a boom and is now a bust. The “hotspots” initially discovered yielded such high volumes of fish that they overwhelmed handling capacity and much of the first catches were dumped. But within just a couple of years the fish were gone and the hotspot was empty.
The ecology of deep-sea fish is different and scientists believe that each fished out hotspot may never recover.
[edit] The Boom & Bust Phenomenon
Orange Roughy fisheries are characterised by being boom and bust; having incredibly high levels of catches for a couple of years, and then rapidly declining to very low levels without recovering. Although there have been around 30 Roughy fisheries world wide, some still active today, four make good case studies.
The first Roughy fishery was founded by New Zealand fishermen around a seamount area called Chatham Rise. It started in the late ‘70’s, but declined rapidly after 1979.
This was followed by the highly publicised fishery around St. Helen’s Hill in Australian waters. A newspaper headline from 6 May 1989 stated: “Plenty of “gold” on the sea bed”. But only 30 months later, 16 October 1991, the headline read “Action on Roughy too late”.
At its height, the handling and storage practices could not handle to Roughy gold rush, and there was tremendous wastage.
The fishery around seamounts in the northeast Atlantic began in 1991. By 1994 the catch levels had already declined to around 25% of the original level. ICES, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, reports that since that time, stocks have not shown any sign of recovery.
The youngest of the four case study fisheries, in the unexplored waters around the Madagascar Ridge in the Indian Ocean, was discovered in 1999 and had already declined rapidly by 2001. Of the around 30 Orange Roughy fisheries that have been established the last 25 years, over half are now reduced to less than 30% of their initial catch levels.
[edit] Exploitation Tragedy
The Orange Roughy tend to congregate, travelling as much as 200km, around topographic features such as seamounts, plateaus and canyons for spawning and feeding. Orange Roughy populations may also be endemic, localised or resident, associated with specific topographic features and not tending to migrate over large distances.
All of these characteristics make the Orange Roughy highly vulnerable to exploitation. Field experience gained over the fishery’s 25 year history suggests that it is very difficult, if not impossible for local populations to recover from over-fishing.
It is not only the Orange Roughy themselves that are being destroyed. The fishery has very high by-catch levels. Mortality is nearly 100% for these deep water species, many of whom are unknown and poorly studied.
The mechanical effects of the fishery effort are also devastating to the deep-sea environment. Not only are the fragile, slow-to-recover, sea-floor communities of the trawl path destroyed, but the disturbance to the sea-floor sediments may spread the destructive effects over large areas. It is estimated that 40% of today’s trawling effort occurs in the highly vulnerable and unexplored sea-floor zones deeper than the continental shelf. Finally, researchers do not know enough about the deep-sea ecosystem to be able to even estimate the effects of removing of a mid-range predator, such as the Orange Roughy.
[edit] Listed as Endangered
In 2006, The World Wildlife Fund, the global conservation organisation, and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, welcomed the recommendation by the Australian Government that Orange Roughy, also known as deep sea perch, be listed as an endangered species. Thus it became the first commercially sought fish to be added to the endangered species list.
All around the world Orange Roughy has been fished at levels that have led to the collapse of fisheries as the fish is long-lived and slow-breeding and therefore highly vulnerable to over-fishing.
According to sustainable seafood guides, such as Seafood Watch (USA), the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, the Marine Conservation Society (UK), the Orange Roughy is currently on the list of fish that consumers should avoid the most.
In 2010, Greenpeace International added orange roughy (deep sea perch) to its seafood red list, which contains fish that are generally sourced from unsustainable fisheries.
[edit] Eating Orange Roughy
There are still some who are ignorant about the Orange Roughy endangered listing and buy the fillets from the markets or from specialized stores. The tips below will help you make the most of this endangered fish.
[edit] Buying Tips
- When choosing Orange Roughy fillets, look for moist, translucent flesh.
- Keep the fillet in a cooler while coming back to the house. Never let it stay unrefrigerated for long.
[edit] Storage
- Remove the packaging, rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry.
- Place the fish in a shallow pan with crushed ice, cover with cling wrap or aluminium foil and place it in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
- The fillets can be stored in this manner for up to two days.
- In the freezer compartment, the filets will stay for two mnths and in the deep-freeze for 3-4 months.
- Cook the frozen fillets without defrosting them.
[edit] Cooking the Fillets
The secret to successful orange roughy cookery is to not overcook it. Whichever of the following cooking methods you choose, your orange roughy will be cooked when its flesh becomes opaque but is still moist on the inside.
[edit] Baking
Place orange roughy in a greased baking dish and place on a baking sheet. Brush the fish with melted butter or oil and season with salt and pepper, cover with a sauce, or wrap in oiled foil. Bake in a preheated 450°F (230°C) oven, about ten minutes per inch (about 2.5cm) of thickness.
[edit] Grilling
Place fillets directly on a greased grill, 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15cm) above prepared coals or fire. Baste with butter, oil, or marinade, and close hood of grill. Cook until opaque and moist on the inside, six to eight minutes.
[edit] Broiling
Place seasoned and/or marinated orange roughy on a well-greased broiler pan. Broil under preheated broiler 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5cm) from heat source. Cook until opaque and moist on the inside, six to ten minutes.
[edit] Pan frying
Coat orange roughy with seasoned flour, crumbs, or cornmeal. Shake off any extra coating and fry in a small amount of hot butter or oil, turning once halfway through cooking time. Cook until opaque and moist on the inside, eight to ten minutes.
[edit] Deep frying
Pour oil into a wok or deep fryer; it should be at least 1 1/2 inches (about 3.8cm) deep, and the cooker should be less than half full of oil. Heat oil to 375°F (190°C), using a thermometer to monitor temperature. Cut orange roughy into similar-sized pieces, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch (about 3.2 to 3.8cm) thick. Dip in batter, drain, then slip pieces into hot oil. Cook until brown, two to three minutes.
[edit] Poaching
Bring poaching liquid, consisting of water, broth, and herbs and spices, to a simmer. Slip in orange roughy, then cover pan and keep liquid at a simmer for about eight minutes per inch (about 2.5cm) of thickness.
[edit] Steaming
Place orange roughy on a greased perforated rack over 1 to 2 inches (about 2.5 to 5cm) of rapidly boiling water. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and keep water at a constant boil through cooking time, eight to ten minutes per inch (about 2.5cm) of thickness of the fish.
[edit] Warning
- Take care when eating Orange Roughy, because of its scarcity, they have been found to contain elevated mercury levels.
- Women should eat no more than 2 meals per month
- Men should eat no more than 1 meal per month
- Kids age 6-12 should eat no more than 1 meal per month
- Kids up to age 6 should eat no more than ½ meals per month
- It is high in cholestrol, so a little goes a long way with this fish.
[edit] Substitution
When a recipe calls for Orange Roughy, you can easily substitute any firm white fish for it. Try the following:
- Red Snapper
- Grouper
- Cod
- Haddock
- Tilapia
