That means those fisheries, two on the Chatham Rise and a third to the west on the Challenger Plateau, now carry the MSC ecolabel, the international gold standard of sustainable fishing.

It has been an exhaustive process that began in mid-2014, undertaken by an independent team of experts that considered input from all stakeholders, including environmental NGOs opposed to the certification.

“Our management approach has been substantially revised from the early years and is now very precautionary,” Deepwater Group chief executive George Clement said.

“To ensure the long-term productivity of this fishery, for every 100 adult orange roughy in New Zealand waters, we harvest less than five each year, leaving at least 95 to ensure that these stocks remain healthy for the future.”

Mr Clement has been involved with the fishery since its inception in the early 1980s and oversaw the development of sophisticated new scientific techniques to measure and assess stock sizes.

That included an Acoustic Optical System developed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research that allows roughy to be studied in their habitat a kilometre deep to accurately assess populations sizes and set appropriate catch levels.

Catches peaked at around 54,000 tonnes in the 1980s but are now a fraction of that, at around 8000 tonnes.

The three fisheries awarded the MSC tick represent about two thirds of the total orange roughy catch.

The species is prized as fillets in the US market and as whole fish in China, which has become the premium market.

Orange roughy provides the country with $60 million in export earnings annually, of a total seafood export market that has recently risen to $1.8 billion.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the long awaited third party verification was an exciting announcement.

“What it means is for all our international consumers, and domestic as well, that they now know that our fishing stocks here in New Zealand are well managed. It’s about sustainability, traceability and making sure that consumers know that we are doing a huge amount in terms of looking after our fishing species and stock sustainability.

“We can put our hand on heart and prove to the world that we are managing our fishing stocks sustainably and this is really exciting news.

“Orange roughy is worth a huge amount to the New Zealand economy and that money flows through to New Zealand jobs. It’s about regional development as well, all the people that do the hard work on these fishing vessels getting the premium product to markets around the world.

“They’ll be delighted in this news today.”

The MSC Fishery Standard is founded on three principles – healthy fish stocks, minimising impact on the wider marine environment, and effective fishery management.

MSC Asia Pacific director Patrick Caleo said “this certification signals to the world that collaboration among industry, Maori iwi leaders, government, scientists and other interest groups has the power to improve the health of fish stocks and ensure their sustainability.

“We believe that rewarding positive change through our certification programme and ecolabels is essential if we are to ensure healthy oceans.”

The NGOs that have invested so much in opposing oragne roughy fishing have predictably attacked the MSC and the process that they were happy to support when it suited them.

“Now, as we understand more about the impacts of fishing, along with increasing demand for sustainable seafood, more fishing operations are changing for the better,” Mr Caleo said in response.

“They’re recovering their fish stocks, reducing their impacts and putting better management in place. That means that some fisheries with bad reputations are becoming sustainable.

“There are some people who will say that certain fisheries can never be sustainable whatever they do. They’re wrong.

“With orange roughy, the certified fishery has undergone two years of scrutiny by independent scientists to validate their sustainability.

“We should not get stuck in the past. We want fisheries to improve and we should recognise them when they do. Positive change means productive, healthy oceans.”

In other words, we all accept the orange roughy fishery was not well managed 30-35 years ago when it was first developed. That is demonstrably not the case now.

It is time to accept that.