Redfish (Centroberyx affinis) occur in continental shelf and upper slope waters (depths from 10 to 500 m) from northern NSW to eastern Bass Strait. Juvenile fish occur in the deep  bays and estuaries and over reefs in inshore waters. Redfish is a strongly schooling species, generally occurring in association with hard bottom types and other structures (Morison and Rowling 2001). 

Redfish occurs in continental shelf and upper slope waters in depths from 10 to 450 m from eastern Tasmania (including Bass Strait) to southern Queensland off Fraser Island. Juvenile fish occur in deeper bays and estuaries and over inshore reefs. Redfish is predominantly a schooling species, generally occurring over hard bottom types and other structures (e.g. shipwrecks) (Morison and Rowling 2001, NSW I&I 2010).

Redfish are mostly caught in the Commonwealth fisheries, where recent landings have been around 200 t - despite the Total Allowable Catch being about 800 t (AFMA 2016).

No formal stock discrimination studies for redfish have been done in Australia. Tagging studies suggested a single stock of redfish off New South Wales. However, studies of mean length at age suggest differences in growth rates between the ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ sectors of the fishery off eastern Australia (Morison and Rowling 2001).

The redfish assessments of Thomson (2002) and Klaer (2005) assumed that the fishery exploits two separate populations, with the boundary between these ‘stocks’ being 36ºS (just north of Montague Island). However ShelfRAG (2014) considered there was not a sufficient basis for assuming two separate stocks and agreed that the assessment should be based on a one stock model (Tuck and Day 2014).