Fishing for facts

A clash is emerging between political parties over marine protections in the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana.

Before the rhetoric further escalates, we need to step back and set out what’s at stake.

The Hauraki Gulf supports fisheries, recreation and tourism, and is woven deeply into the cultural and economic life of Auckland and surrounding communities.

But it’s also an ecosystem under severe pressure.

Decades of overfishing and destruction of the seafloor caused by bottom-trawling, as well as pollution, sedimentation, land-based runoff and climate change, have taken their toll. Seabird, whale and dolphin numbers have plummeted, and crayfish and scallop populations have collapsed in some areas.

In 2013, local communities, tangata whenua, fishers, environmental groups and government agencies formed a long-term plan to protect this special place.

The Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Act has created a network of new protected areas, including 12 ‘High Protection Areas’ intended to limit commercial and recreational fishing so marine life can recover.

But in October 2024, a late-stage amendment by the coalition government allowed a type of commercial fishing called ‘ring-netting’ in two of these so-called “high protection” areas – one in Kawau Bay, and the other around Rangitoto and Motutapu.

This prompted significant concern. After all, how can these places genuinely be called protected when commercial fishing is allowed?

The government’s 11th-hour change defied all official advice – and was a betrayal of the diverse group of Aucklanders who spent a decade trying to restore the health of the Gulf.

The National Party has recently said it will campaign to remove the exemptions for commercial fishing that it advanced and “restore the integrity” of the High Protection Areas.

But let’s be clear: it should never have been necessary to fight for the integrity of these areas in the first place.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka didn’t need to make the exemptions, because he didn’t need the support of New Zealand First to pass the Bill. Other parties, including those in Opposition, had committed to voting for it – as they had done, unanimously, at its First Reading.

WWF welcomes any move that restores genuine protection and helps reverse the alarming ecological decline in the Gulf. Yet even with the new protected areas, we’re still only talking about around six per cent of the Gulf being fully protected. The vast majority remains open to commercial and recreational fishing.

As the debate heats up, Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has made references to the 1992 Māori Fisheries Settlement. This agreement provided iwi with shares within the Quota Management System and ownership stakes in New Zealand’s largest fishing company, Sealord.

The settlement guarantees quota rights. It does not guarantee perpetual commercial access to every specific area. I don’t think there’s any suggestion – from anyone involved – that the High Protection Areas would “cancel” this settlement.

So where is this coming from?

Well, this discussion is being conflated with a debate about restricting bottom-trawling in the Hauraki Gulf.

Bottom-trawling is a highly destructive and indiscriminate fishing method that involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor. It decimates seabed habitats, kills other marine life and releases carbon dioxide.

Earlier plans proposed confining trawling to ‘trawl corridors’ within the Gulf. The National Party has indicated it will review those settings.

Nobody is talking about “terminating commercial fishing” altogether in the Hauraki Gulf, as Jones implies. But it’s also true that decades of destructive fishing pressure needs to be addressed.

Most of the major fishing companies know the social licence for bottom trawling is rapidly eroding.

It’s incumbent upon all of us – politicians, industry, the seafood sector and our community – to avoid slipping into hyperbole and sensationalism.

The Hauraki Gulf is too important to allow its decline to continue unchecked.