PAUA

It appears that MFish have used the lowest estimate of the public catch – 22 tonnes (1995/96) on which to base its allowance for the public gathering of paua for the next 5 years.

It has done so at a time when the paua are at their lowest ever recorded biomass, when the commercial CPUE has plummeted 70%, when Customary Maori state clearly that it is increasingly difficult to find legal sized paua in shallow, sheltered reef.

Why does the MFish recommended “allowance” ignore the 1991/92 estimates of 39 tonnes and the 1999/2000 estimates, and then have the audacity to state that our catch is increasing.

Are MFish attempting to “pin down” the public to the lowest ever-recorded public harvest estimate and then attempt to constrain the public to that historically low level of catch?

To achieve a good level of understanding of complex fisheries management scenarios we believe it is important to read the available data in good order.

The various documents have been broken up and reorganised by species and fishery. This facilitates downloading as, intact, these documents are big and unwieldy.

For each fishery management proposal we have submitted to we present the available information in the following order.

1. The Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) management proposal as presented in the Initial Position Paper (IPP)
2. The Minister of Fisheries' "Preliminary View" letter.
3. Submissions to the IPP from option4 and others, as available.
4. The MFish Final Advise Paper (FAP) incorporating stakeholders submissions
5. The Ministers Final Decision for the species.
6. Articles and Letters relating to this fishery, as available