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NZBGFC writes to the Minister re Broadbill
23
November 2001
Hon Pete Hodgson
Minister of Fisheries
Parliament Building
WELLINGTON
Dear Minister
The NZBGFC has been asking for some restraint on the commercial
catch of Broadbill Swordfish for 3 years now. Your letter to me
on the 30 August 2000 gave me encouragement that positive steps
had been taken on this issue with Broadbill being scheduled into
the 2001/02 sustainability round. That review required consultation
with interested parties in time for regulation changes on 1 October
2001 to address this matter.
To date none of this has happened. There has been no formal explanation
by the Ministry about how the Broadbill issue is being dealt with
or what decisions have been made behind closed doors. Enquires to
Mr Tom Chatterton, the MFish representative charged with this project,
informed me of delays due to Ministry processing of available information.
Also that the process of Broadbill sustainability review was able
to be detached from the 1 October deadline as this was a non-quota
species and could be handled as an isolated issue. However, I am
now led to believe that there will be no review or consultation
amongst concerned parties at all. That the Ministry want to stall
the management of this fishery until the species is scheduled for
introduction into the QMS, which may be 2004 or 2005 if the current
schedule is followed. Burying this issue until then is unacceptable.
Minister, the NZBGFC, all its 55 clubs and 31,000 members, find
this course of action, if allowed, totally unsatisfactory. Our view
of the need to address the sustainability of Broadbill has not changed
since our first raising this issue with the previous Minister of
Fisheries. We have spent considerable time and energy having this
issue addressed in the proper process.
We negotiated a MOU with commercial fishers to protect Broadbill
and prevent commercial tuna longlining on a few of the most accessible
recreational grounds - today this agreement is being ignored by
most tuna longliners. We had been led to believe, and fully expected
after MFish review and consultation, that at least some of our suggested
controls would be likely. Some of these even had the support of
the commercial industry ie. the moratorium on new licenses and restrictions
of boat numbers on current licences. There is no evidence that the
current commercial Broadbill catch of 1000 tonnes is sustainable
or that it would safeguard the species from over fishing until full
research is carried out. In fact now that the bycatch has peaked
at this level for 2 consecutive seasons, after a rapid rise from
100 tonnes 6 years ago, this should be ringing some alarm bells.
Our members remain deeply concerned that we are witnessing the demise
of a world class sport fishery, which could be of long term financial
benefit to New Zealand, for the sake of short term commercial gain.
Maximising the long-term benefits of the Broadbill fishery (along
with other well-known recreation game species such as Marlin and
Kingfish) does not come from unrestricted, open-access commercial
fisheries. In April this year we had a world record 332.40 kg Broadbill
caught on 37kg tackle. Along with the record came numerous reports
of hook ups with bigger fish but were subsequently lost and a significant
increase in capture rates with more boats now capable of fishing
the distant northern grounds. The fish are known to grow over 500kg
and the potential exists to rival the famous heavy weight Black
Marlin recreational fishery off Cairns.
These few recreational successes have come from three factors, a
change of fishing technique, new charter boats built for long distant
transits and the fact that there are still some large fish available
in remote areas, north of the Three Kings Islands, where strong
current make longlining difficult. International American and Australian
fishing magazines have firmly put the spotlight on NZ as the place
to catch what is considered the king of all Billfish. With just
40 Broadbill landed late last season and the exposure that received,
has seen forward bookings of charter boats that cost $2000 a day
by international anglers taking virtually all available space of
capable boats. Along with this it is expected that many NZ anglers
will also venture further afield all around NZ and experiment with
the successful techniques developed. While this may seem speculative
the fact remains it will not happen if 1000 or more tonnes per year
is already exceeding sustainable yield. At the International Billfish
Symposium held in Cairns recently we heard that stock assessment
work has begun in Australia on the south western Pacific Broadbill
and that there is concern about the unconstrained and rapid expansion
of the commercial fishery from both sides of the Tasman.
Minister, our primary concern is still to see a precautionary approach
applied to the management of Broadbill (as required under Section
10 of the Fisheries Act 1996) until a full assessment can be carried
out. We accept that some commercial bycatch is inevitable but know
perfectly well - as do your officials - that broadbill continue
to be illegally targeted by tuna longliners. Therefore controls
are required now.
I urge you to put the Broadbill sustainability process you put in
place early this year back on the track. We have shown tolerance
to date at the initial slip beyond 1 October 2001 but we must not
allow this fishery to remain unmanaged until the species is introduced
into QMS.
Yours sincerely
Jeff Romeril
PRESIDENT
cc Mr Warwick Tuck CEO MFish
Mr Doug Kidd
Mr Ross Gildon President NZRFC
Mr Scott Macindoe Chairman option4
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