And that this explains why New Zealand has been repeatedly ranked among the best performing fisheries in the world.

Or that 96 percent of New Zealand’s territory is underwater, that there are 1165 registered commercial fishing vessels and zero foreign flagged vessels fishing in our waters.

These facts are contained in OpenSeas, the digital gateway to the most comprehensive summary of the environmental supply chain and workforce credentials of New Zealand’s seafood industry.

The site is increasingly gaining recognition as the seafood go-to information resource.

With the hoki season under way, the Foodstuffs supermarket chain is set to launch a promotion for the popular fish in its New World stores.

Hoki is a positive story which we want to share with our customers, seafood operations manager Brett Sellers said.

He asked if they were able to reference industry resources.

The answer was, absolutely.

“OpenSeas is now the definitive, independent resource for all consumer/retail inquiries,” Seafood NZ responded.

“It is kept updated and we encourage you to use it freely.”

It explains that the Quota Management System covers 123 species and 641 fish stocks. Each fish stock has a sustainable catch limit that is set by the Government through Fisheries New Zealand within the Ministry for Primary Industries and enforced under the Fisheries Act 1996.

OpenSeas is targeted at wild catch fisheries.

For the facts on the extensive aquaculture sector, click here.

OpenSeas presents comprehensive profiles for the main commercial species caught in New Zealand waters.

Information is compiled for each species according to multiple units of assessment. Each unit is judged against three components for target species, bycatch and ecosystems, and management systems.

The site is made to be shared. Links, factsheets, reports and references are found throughout the site.

It was launched at the seafood industry’s 2017 conference after a year’s development, bringing together over 20 industry experts and five regulatory agencies to contribute to nearly 40 pages of website content.

It recognises seafood production and procurement can be a complicated business and that customers increasingly want reassurance around the provenance of the product they are buying.

In January this year it gained international third party certification under the ISO9001 stamp.

The programme will continue to grow, adding more details, data, reports and references relevant to seafood sale and procurement.

The top 20 currently covered are: snapper, blue cod, hoki, albacore tuna, arrow squid, barracouta, bluenose, flatfish, hake, jack mackerel, ling, rock lobster, orange roughy, oreo, gurnard, silver warehou, southern blue whiting, tarakihi, trevally.

The most visited species profile is that of orange roughy, a highly valued deepwater fish that has seen a recovery in stocks to the extent around two thirds of the fishery was last year awarded Marine Stewardship Council certification.

Visit OpenSeas to learn more.