Marine – Fisheries a real election issue

Fisheries is an election issue. In 2023, only one party had a dedicated oceans and fisheries policy. This year, at least four parties have released their policy and are committed to increasing the abundance of fish.

It’s the result of mounting public pressure since Shane Jones took the Oceans and Fisheries Ministerial portfolio.

His proposals, from the Fisheries Amendment Bill to commercialising marlin and 19 reef species, have galvanised the public and provoked widespread backlash.

The latest topic that has grabbed attention is bottom trawling.

Bottom trawling is so destructive that many countries have banned it within coastal areas or phased it out. Yet in clean, green New Zealand and the Hauraki Gulf, we still use this archaic fishing method.

The scientific evidence is irrefutable. Weighted nets and trawl doors plough the seabed, flattening habitats that can take decades to recover. Trawling kills life on the seafloor that the marine food web depends on. It hauls up bucket loads of unwanted fish, too.

If it’s so bad then why are we still doing it? Because the Quota Management System (QMS) encourages and rewards such behaviour.

After 40 years of the QMS, private investors now control a valuable public resource: our fish. Today, many of the remaining inshore fishers are dependent on leasing catching rights, known as Annual Catch Entitlement (ACE), from quota owners who never go to sea: slipper skippers.

Those ACE fishers are left working to tight margins just to make ends meet. So bulk harvesting methods like trawling become the cheapest way to fill the hold.

Claims that banning bottom trawling will cost jobs and the economy fall short. Jobs for regional, coastal communities come from catching, processing and selling quality fish from a healthy, abundant marine environment.

A well-managed transition plan is required to provide a viable pathway to change.

Friday night fish and chips doesn’t need a bottom trawler. We know that alternatives already work in our inshore waters. Leigh Fish has sold premium longlined snapper since the late 1950s. This is maximising value and respecting each fish while having a lower impact.

Several political parties have stated they support a transition away from bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf and wider areas. The missing piece is addressing the system responsible. While the QMS remains, trawling stays entrenched.

It’s important that there are multiple parties supporting positive change because in an MMP environment there is no guarantee about who will be sitting around the Cabinet table after the November 7 election.

A thriving coastal marine environment and commercial fishing can co-exist. We just need an alternative system to enable change. We’re not saying no to commercial fishing. We’re saying yes to a better way.