Macruronus novaezelandiae, the New Zealand hoki, is a deepwater species distributed throughout the New Zealand coast, usually found at depths of 200-600 m (McGregor et al. 2022). A separate population of this species also occurs in southern and southeast Australia (Koot et al. 2021).

In New Zealand, the species is divided into two main biological stocks based on the two main spawning grounds: the eastern stock occurs off the East Coast of South Island, Mernoo Bank, Chatham Rise, Cook Strait, and the East Coast of North Island up to North Cape and the western stock occurs to the west coast of the North and South Islands and the area south of New Zealand including Puysegur, Snares Shelf and the Southern Plateau (McGregor et al. 2022). However, there is still some uncertainty about the stock structure.