Kahawai Legal Challenge Update New Zealand Fishing News June 2006 edition

Countdown to High Court Case

The countdown to the High Court hearing of the Kahawai Legal Challenge is underway.

The case will begin on June 6th and is expected to take four days to complete.

Justice Heath will hear the claim from the New Zealand Big Game Fishing Council and the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council challenging the Minister of Fisheries’ decision-making over the management and allocation of kahawai under the Quota Management System (QMS).

The largest iwi in the country, Ngapuhi, has provided a powerful affidavit in support of the claim by the councils. option4 has been backing the action from day one.

History Making Decision

This will be the first time recreational fishers have

taken the Minister to court in twenty years of the QMS and follows many unfavourable management decisions that have made it harder for the public to catch a reasonable daily bag limit. This test case seeks to protect the rights of the non-commercial fishing public.

The claim also seeks to obtain clear rulings from the High Court that non-commercial fishing interests are not limited to estimates of existing catch or some fixed proportion of total catch. 

The key objectives of the Court proceedings are to:

• Ensure that “more fish are left in the sea”, so there is a return to better fish catch rates; and

• Clarify the Minister of Fisheries’ decision-making powers for amateur and recreational fish species.

The proceedings will hear the counterclaim recently issued by commercial interests namely Sanford Ltd, Sealord Group Ltd and Pelagic and Tuna Ltd. The Minister and Ministry of Fisheries are first and second defendants respectively.

While kahawai is the focus of the case it is expected that the outcome will have far-reaching implications for the allocation of all inshore shared fisheries.

Timetable

In December 2005 a timetable was set for the process leading up to the June court date. While the legal team agreed to the timetable it was up to all the parties involved in the case to comply.

Commercial fishers have been slow in supplying their evidence. This could be interpreted as a delaying tactic to force the postponement of the June 6th hearing date.

However, the councils involved are determined the delays will not be used to defer the judicial review.

April 21st was set as the last day the recreational sector had to respond to the counter claims by commercial interests and subsequent evidence from the Minister and Ministry. That commitment was not met due to the lack of complete evidence from commercial interests and no evidence in response to those affidavits, from the Minister and Ministry.

The recreational councils believe the case is strong and are confident in the evidence gathered to date. The councils have complete faith in the legal team’s ability to focus on the main issues and not be distracted by efforts to widen the case by other parties and divert attention away from the core issues.