I will start by saying I have no issue with commercial fishing and (most) commercial fishermen. It will always be a part of our economy, and provides jobs for thousands and gives access to seafood for those who may not otherwise have it. Even exporting fish is fine by me as it adds to our GDP, as long as it is done sustainably and it is high valued product, not purse seining kahawai to send to Oz for cray bait.
What I have an issue with is the massive conflicts of interest that currently exist at the highest levels of the commercial sector, and how that prevents what could be a very good system from functioning even remotely how it should. The mind boggles at some of the decisions and processes that take place.
You have Peter Goodfellow, president of the governing National Party, acting as a director for Sanfords, our largest commercial fishing company. The same company that partly owns the company hired by the government to monitor commercial fishing malpractice, which is shocking enough in itself. The same company that gets caught out on monitoring cameras systematically dumping fish. The same company that the government then decides not to prosecute, despite a mountain of evidence. That goes beyond the level of a conflict of interest, and even starts getting into the murky waters of corruption.
Then you have MPI now treating recreational catch as a quota rather than an allowance. I am 100% all for cutting limits etc in areas that are under pressure and need to rebuild. But when you repeatedly cut recreational bag limits and increase the size limits, while allowing the commercial sector to continue to take 25cm snapper and 65cm kingfish with no cut in TAC, that is quite simply unacceptable. And when it is done using data that is at best deeply flawed and at worst deliberately misleading, it is even harder to swallow. Ramp surveys and aerial flyovers on some of the busiest weekend of the year extrapolated over 12 months is only ever going to result in one thing, so MPI was either extremely incompetent or extremely calculated in their methods.
On top of that, you have the government trying to look like they 'understand the issue' and coming up with a 'solution to benefit everyone'. The proposal to "close the Hauraki Gulf to commercial fishing" is possibly the biggest load of bull**** I have ever laid eyes on. Anyone who has looked at the boundaries for commercial fishing and trawler prohibited areas will know exactly what I mean.
All that proposal does is close off the areas from which trawlers are already banned, leaving open the areas that the vast majority of snapper in the Gulf congregate to spawn each year. It literally does not affect a single trawl vessel, and will have zero effect on the amount of snapper caught by trawlers in the Gulf and where those fish come from.
The only boats that proposal will have any impact on is the small scale inshore long liners. The ones with the least environmental impact. The ones with the most selective fishing method. The ones that should be encouraged, not banished from where they operate. It is disheartening to see how many people point to this proposal as a grand act by the government to protect recreational fishing in the Gulf, and how few see through it for what it really is - another PR exercise designed to pacify the public with no real impact on preserving the Gulf at all. If anything, it will force the smaller long liners that were allowed to operate in those areas out of business, resulting in a higher percentage of snapper being taken by trawlers and that's not good news for anyone.
Then you have areas like the Bay of Plenty where snapper stocks are clearly decimated, and yet every season the trawlers are back, clearing out what little is left. When MPIs own estimates put snapper sticks at 6% of their original levels and yet they leave the fishery open with no reduction in quota, that says a lot about it as an organisation.
I think that's what grates me the most about this new show, that speech at the beginning was painful to listen to and I know plenty of uninformed people with believe everything that is said. It paints a picture of a government that is so proactive around working with the recreational sector when the reality couldn't be much different.
Anyway rant over, I just hope people don't take everything at face value and see this show for what it is, a glorified PR stunt by an industry that knows the spotlight on it is getting brighter.
LegaSea Community Builder wrote: Won't post the link to this view point from a Facebook page but will paste the text instead....I think the poster says a lot of right things... |
Blindspot wrote: I thought the first episode was ok, showed both sides of the story and clearly things are working well in that particular fishery. Second eps grinded my gears. How can a new fishery actually end up with its catch improving? they dont ask why! this ecosystem has been in place for the last few decades and now that we are fishing it its improving.. without any other change.... oh how the science of that makes so much sense. shout outs to MPI... oh and apparently our 30yo world class fisheries management only needs a few tweaks... *insert Tui ad* |
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