The fishery for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) around the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean is a profitable operation targeting a high-value, slow-growing species. We substituted the complex Bayesian age-structured model currently used for assessments with a Schaefer production model, which performs equally well as an operating model for management strategy evaluation. A number of potential effort reduction strategies are investigated, several of which would achieve better conservation objectives and higher future profits from the fishery than those predicted using the current management strategy. The article also discusses the applicability of this approach to the Australian sub-Antarctic fisheries targeting the stocks of D. eleginoides.