| Notes
for Meetings with Recreational Fishing Forums
and
Key Stakeholder Groups
January-February 2006
Shared
Fisheries Policy Initiative
- MFish has begun a new process to improve policies for management
of shared fisheries.
- Shared fisheries are those in which both commercial and non-commercial
fishers have significant interests and share in the total catch.
- An emphasis on shared resources reminds us of the need to acknowledge
the range of interests involved, and the need to accommodate differing
objectives and values in the management framework.
- Currently there are ongoing conflicts over shared fisheries,
dissatisfaction with management among stakeholders, and difficulties
for MFish and the Minister in administration of the system.
- The new initiative will build on previous work (Soundings and
Ministerial reference groups).
- The resulting policy will provide a framework – a set
of criteria, processes, and management tools that can be applied
to particular fisheries, generally through the use of fisheries
plans.
We are currently seeking
stakeholder views on the approach being taken as indicated by the
key challenges outlined on the following page (have we identified
the problems correctly), and suggestions for workable options to
address these issues.
By the end of June this year
we hope to have a public consultation document on options released,
followed by a four month submission period. However, the earlier
we have stakeholder input for the development of those options,
the greater an influence it is likely to have on final outcomes.
So we encourage you to contribute actively at this meeting and in
the coming weeks and months to the development of policy options
to address the current issues of concern in the policy framework
for shared fisheries.
Key Issues
and Challenges
- Criteria and processes for setting the TAC
- Need to strike balance between commercial and non-commercial
values – that is, yield on one hand, and catch-rates/fish-size
on the other
- Increased certainty in allocation of TAC (setting and adjusting
customary, recreational and commercial shares) while maintaining
flexibility for responding to changing demands (e.g. population)
- Important to secure benefits of the QMS through predictable
and fair processes of adjustment
- System still needs flexibility to be able to adjust shares in
an orderly and fair way
- Increased certainty and reduced conflict will encourage cooperative
approaches to managing shared fisheries
- More accessible management tools to allow for the enhancement
of non-commercial values, for example
- to provide for separation of commercial and recreational fishing
effort in key areas or fisheries
- to provide for increased local participation in management where
interest and values are high
- Effective management measures to ensure there are appropriate
incentives for commercial and recreational take to be maintained
within their share
- Especially important in fully developed shared fisheries
- More cost-effective and reliable information on non-commercial
catch and participation rates
- Knowing the extent of non-commercial fishing is important for
all of the above issues, especially 1 & 2
- Important to monitor (and respond to) changes in demand
- Participation rates are a critical unknown factor
Are there other key challenges
that we have missed?
Do you have any suggestions
on how we can address any of these issues?
Where to from here?
- Preliminary discussions with key stakeholder groups –
NOW
- Release of public discussion document ~June 2006
- Period for public feedback - 4 months
- Government decisions on final policy ~June 2007
- Legislative change, Select Committee process ~mid-2008.
We welcome your input into
the policy development process at this important stage, and encourage
stakeholder groups and members of the forum to contact the project
team at any time to discuss the issues. If you wish, a further
discussion could be held at the next meeting of the forum.
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