28 November, 2001

Present:
Paul and Peggy Barnes,
Trish, Kim Walshe,
Scott Macindoe,
Peter Ellery,
Richard Baker,
John Holdsworth
From MoF: Stan Crothers, Dylan James

When did the Soundings process end?
MFish believed it ended with the report back and break up of the Rights Working Group.
Rec felt that the MCG was part of the process to help the Minister decide what to do about Soundings so that Soundings ended with the report back to Cabinet this week.
It was agreed that Soundings is over now and a new process will be developed.

There was a discussion on the statement in the Ministers media release that consensus could not be reached among rec sector on a specific way forward.
Rec said the 4 Principles were adopted by all groups. Where was the lack of consensus?
MoF said the Minister was not satisfied in what he was hearing at MCG and from the summit that there was enough consensus to start changing legislation but that there was sufficient consensus to continue moving forward. Comment was made by the Ministry that following the Summit meeting held at the Half Moon Bay the facilitator reported dissension amongst the groups appearing at the meeting. Dylan will send the Email summary from the Summit facilitator

The Cabinet Advise Paper and written decision of the Cabinet Finance, Infrastructure and Environment Committee was released under the Official Information Act for our meeting

It noted: (my comments in brackets)

• that a need for further work had been identified.
• that all parties to the discussion agreed that the 8 objectives …. (listed from 1989 Moyle document "access to a reasonable share") provide the basis for continuing the discussions.
• the Minister has requested that MoF work closely with the recreational sector (not any other sectors) to develop a specific proposal.
• MoF shall develop and implement an information strategy to improve the information on rec harvest.
• the Minister shall recommend a public consultation process to Cabinet by 1 Feb 2003.
  o the Minister shall report back to the Cabinet the result of the public consultation by 1 June 2003.

The full advice paper describes the background and process in some detail.
Rec noted that in the list of threats to rec fishers there was no mention of impact of past or future commercial catch or waste of fish not "landed" by commercial fishers.

Where to From Here
MoF believe that developing the information strategy should not take too long. They have commissioned an independent review of the recent national rec harvest surveys, and there is to be a Rec Working Group review meeting in mid 2002 to discuss the survey research and results.

Two areas were identified specifically in the cabinet paper. The nature and extent of the harvest from charter vessels and the frequency, consistency and accuracy of the recreational harvest surveys. They are proposing to allocate about $500,000 a year for these from within their existing total budget. MoF also said they will look wider than just the harvest surveys to look at social and economic benefits of non-commercial catch.

Meetings between Rec representatives and MoF are proposed early next year.
First would be a debrief of the Soundings process - the good, bad and the ugly - to clear the air and help design a better process for the future.
Next may be a series of meetings on specific issues such as international law, customary law, purpose and principles of the Act etc. MoF would bring in experts in these fields so that all would understand better, the current situation.
Rec wanted the definition of rec right to be the focus of early meetings. This would include the legal definition (comment was made that another Snapper court case may be the result of changes to commercial quota (TACC) when the new estimates of rec harvest are worked through the system. This is an expensive but conclusive way of defining the current rights.)

The 3 Ministry briefing papers and Option4 responses from the start of the MCG process may be used as background to the issues but it was agreed that the Ministry papers were not the starting point of negotiation. The Ministry had openly supported proportional share, which was a long way from the priority right which had widespread support from recreational fishers. There may be a long way to go to get agreement on the right but we must have agreement on what the right is before we look at the various ways of implementing that right.

There were a number of suggestions on how the new process should be run. No doubt these will be discussed again as we move forward. Dylan said he would send out the list (matrix) of threats to the rec right that was not presented at the summit meeting.

Broadbill into the QMS.
MoF made some strong statements about the bad situation that had developed with a open access tuna fishery and uncontrolled targeting of broadbill as the fishery had expanded. We were told that a letter was going out to all tuna permit holders saying that the catch history years for allocation of SWO quota in 2003 would be 1990-91 and 1991-92. Because no one had a permit to target broadbill there is no legal entitlement by current fishers to claim there current catch history. There will be a process to set a TAC and rec fishers need to be fully involved. The impression given was that the Minister was taking hard line on broadbill. We should look closely at what is actually proposed. Also Southern Bluefin will be allocated on the 1991, 1992 years which will bring enormous resistance from the current fishers and will end up in court. Watch this space.

Other Reform Decisions

Marine Reserves
The new Marine Reserves Act with have a much more general purpose from forming new MRs. The roll of the Minister of Fisheries in agreeing to MR proposals has been removed. But now there is a clause that says " No marine reserve may be established if it creates an undue adverse effect on rec and commercial fishing". (is this "and" or "or")
But this is only a draft. It would seem that rec groups need to prepare to make submissions on the new MR Act to the Select Committee in late April or May next year. The first step for this would be to make an Official Information Act request for all analysis and Ministerial briefing papers plus the cabinet advise papers on the MR Act.
It is likely that the Draft MR Act will be referred to the Local Government and Environment Select Committee chaired by Jeanette Fitzsimons (Greens).

Aquaculture Reforms
The current number and size of aquaculture applications was getting out of hand.
There will be a 2 year moratorium on applications. Some Regional Councils may be able to meet new criteria before then.
Again the draft will have a clause along the lines of "no marine farm may be established if it creates an undue adverse effect on customary, rec or commercial fishing".
Each rec group should make an Official Information Act request for all analysis and Ministerial briefing papers plus the cabinet advise papers on the aquaculture reforms with a view to making a submission to the Select Committee.

Oceans Policy
Oceans committee reported back to Cabinet on the overview that they were able to form from their consultation round. These conclusions were quite general in nature. In March next year the real policy work will commence to determine how the Government should manage the vast resources in our 200 mile economic zone (and the continental shelf beyond). This will take 18 months or so.

Overall there was a noticeable willingness of the Ministry to encourage rec groups to step up for the new process. They organised this meeting the day that the Minister released the decision.

There was discussion among the rec reps after the meeting with the aim of forming a core group to take the initiative, so that a more unified decisions can be developed. At first what is required is three active members from each group with the desire to bring the groups closer together on a strategy to secure a priority recreational right and encourage a wide distribution of the discussion with others in each group via email and meetings.

John Holdsworth