There are no known fishing restrictions on this species as far as is known. There is a very small no-take marine reserve at Cape d'Aguilar in Hong Kong where Hong Kong grouper may slowly be increasing in number following protection (Andrew Cornish, pers. obs.) and there may be others in southern Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and mainland China but details are not available.

There is a serious lack of time-series data from annual landings, CPUE, underwater visual census from countries in the North-West Pacific where this species is distributed. Such data would greatly increase the accuracy of future assessments.

Ideally, each country would conduct a full stock assessment on this species, which would calculate population size as well as rates of decline. It would also be useful to know from genetic studies whether there are subpopulations within the range of this fish.

Knowledge of natural reproductive behaviour in the wild, particularly whether the species aggregates to spawn (and where and when), would be of use in managing stocks of this species in the wild.