Orange roughy Hoplostethus atlanticus, is a deepwater species inhabiting southern Australian waters. It is of high commercial value, long lived, slow to mature with low fecundity and forms dense spawning aggregations; attributes that render it vulnerable to fishing. Five stocks are currently recognised for assessment and management purposes within the Australian Fishing Zone. Targeted fishing by Commonwealth licensed trawl operators for orange roughy peaked in the late 1980’s and despite management efforts to limit catches throughout this period, these were not adequately constrained and began to decrease. In 2006, four of the five stocks were classed as overfished. In November 2006 the Minster for the Environment and Heritage listed orange roughy as conservation dependent under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). This was the first commercially harvested species to be listed under the EPBC Act. The decision by the Minister not to list this species under a higher category was due to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority having already established a Conservation Program for the species. In this paper we outline the Conservation Program established for orange roughy and discuss the implications.