There are at least two separate stocks of Blue Grenadier ( Macruronus novaezelandiae ) in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (Wilson et al. 2010). Comparative analysis of otolith chemistry and shape indicates two separate biological stocks: one in the region of the Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector (Commonwealth) and the other in the region of the Commonwealth Trawl Sector. There is some evidence that Blue Grenadier from the western Tasmanian and eastern Bass Strait regions of the Commonwealth Trawl Sector may constitute separate substocks, but these are currently assessed and managed as a single Commonwealth Trawl Sector stock (Penneya and Moore 2014).

Catches from the Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector are currently small and are from a different stock than exists off western Victoria and Tasmania, where the bulk of the catch is taken. Blue grenadier from western and eastern Bass Strait regions are unlikely to be part of one highly mixed south eastern Australian stock (Daume et al. 2015).

This Blue Grenadier biological stock is targeted on the upper continental slope (around 200–700 m depth). Fishing effort on the Great Australian Bight continental slope has decreased since 2005 because of the targeting of shelf species rather than slope species. There are large areas of slope habitat across the Great Australian Bight and Western Australia, with fishing generally limited to a small area. It is therefore likely that parts of this biological stock remain unfished (Penneya and Moore 2014).