Brick
Bat and Bouquets
November 2002
Dear [ subscriber ]
Minister
Sets New Catch Limits
option4 gives the Minister a brickbat and two bouquets. The Minister
of Fisheries, Pete Hodgson, has made his decisions on several important
inshore, shared fisheries for the fishing year commencing 1/10/02.
Brickbat - Snapper 2 (SNA2 - East Cape to Wellington)
option4 is really surprised that the Minister has taken the major
step of setting a Total Allowable Catch (which includes commercial,
public, Maori customary and all other forms of mortality associated
with fishing) of 450 tonnes for SNA2 and at the same time has increased
the Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) from 252 tonnes to 315
tonnes. After taking account of the uncertainty surrounding the
recreational harvest he has made an allowance of 90 tonnes for the
public, despite the Ministry's initial advice that he should allow
only 40 tonnes.
Previously there was no TAC set in this fishery and the fishery
was mainly managed by adjusting the TACC and, to a lesser extent,
by making alterations to recreational bag limits, size limits and
method constraints. This meant that if the catch rates were good
and the commercial catch profile was stable or improving the TACC
could be increased or conversely reduced if the fishery showed signs
of stress. Recreational and Maori customary catches were not needed
to be known with a high level of certainty because the overall fishery
indicators would give fisheries managers an idea of the health of
the fishery - there was no need to determine the explicit tonnages
taken by non commercial users. Non-commercial harvest was thought
to be around 40 tonnes per year although it was irrelevant whether
or not this estimate was accurate.
The Fisheries Act 1996 which came into force last year states that
where a TACC is varied then a TAC must be set for that fishery and
this meant that for the Ministry's proposed increase to the TACC
to happen then a TAC for SNA2 must be set at the same time. The
Fisheries Act considers the TAC to be the absolute constraint on
total removals from the fishery and the Minister is obliged to manage
the fishery within that overall catch level. This means that to
set a meaningful TAC the Minister must have all the information
on all the extractions from the fishery - as accurate as possible.
This is where we believe the Minister has been misled - we believe
the Ministry has seriously underestimated the non-commercial catch
in SNA2 and that the TAC could be seriously over caught because
of this.
There is a huge degree of uncertainty about what the recreational
catch actually is in SNA2. The Ministry contended that an estimate
of recreational catch of 40 tonnes was appropriate - new research
indicates the recreational catch may be as high as 700 tonnes in
this fishery. option4 submitted that the recreational harvest was
at least 355 tonnes. To set a TAC without ensuring that the allowances
bear some relationship to reality surely must undermine the concept
of the Quota Management System. What will happen if the Minister
has set the recreational catch incorrectly and the true recreational
catch is 300 or 400 tonnes. His duty is clear, he must constrain
the total removals to the TAC. Next year, will we be looking at
having our bag limits slashed by 75% or more to constrain our catches
within this new TAC or will the Minister simply raise the TAC to
accommodate our actual catch? Either way, it actually looks like
the Minister has set the TAC in an expedient manner, merely to accommodate
an increase to the TACC with little or no regard to whether the
TAC has been set realistically.
What was the rush? Why such urgency? The Minister says that the
new ACE quota balancing looks like working in this fishery. Finally,
the historical massive commercial overcatch of SNA2 TACC looked
like being resolved. The uncertainty regards the non-commercial
catch should have absolutely precluded him from increasing any catch
limits in this fishery until next year when all the information
will be available. To give the fishing industry extra quota is easy
- to take it away with what appears to be a reallocation of catch
between sectors is the tough call. Lets be really clear, the recreational
catch is what it is - not an increase as some would have us believe,
but simply a more accurate estimation. We must never forget how
hard we were hit when the fish down of this fishery occurred in
the 1970's. The fishing opportunities denied, the reduction in catch
per trip and the snapper that we have not been able to catch whilst
the fishery has been allowed to rebuild for some 15 to 20 years.
Just because there are no records of our catch back then, this does
not mean that up to date estimations automatically get described
as an increase -they are just a more accurate representation of
our catch. The Ministers
decision and the Ministry's Final
Advice Paper are worth reading
Bouquet #1 - Terakihi 1
(TAR1 North Cape to both East Cape and Cape Egmont - East and West
coasts)
The Minister has refused an Adaptive Management Proposal, which
would have seen commercial quotas increased by 43%. The Minister's
refusal is because of the uncertainty of how an increase of this
magnitude may adversely affect recreational fishers in this important
recreational fishery. A breath of fresh air and a bouquet!
Bouquet # 2 - Paua Fisheries - South Island
Several of the South Island stocks have been declining because of
commercial overcatch. The Minister's decision sees quotas reduced
to levels that will allow these depleted stocks to start rebuilding.
Thank you Minister.
To read the Minister's decisions and the Final Advice Paper from
his Ministry, please go to the Fisheries
Management pages.
Regards from the team at option4
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