LegaSea Community Builder wrote: When it starts to crash, that's when the spin comes out 'black market is a huge problem' 'we don't know what recs take' 'there's natural cycles that effect the catch rate'. Trying to get the former minister(s) to take a precautionary approach was like trying to get blood out of a stone. Understandably, when someone's livelihood is on the line, they will fight tooth and nail to keep paying their bills, that's why the minister must regulate the industry, not work with industry to extract 'just a little bit more'. |
Steps wrote: Should never have made quota a tradable commodity. Quota should have been held by Government for the people of NZ then leased out to generate a return. Agree but lets not forget about those times. We had just come out of the most government controlled extreme left wing Muldoon National government that has left the country bankrupt. The new Labour government under Rogernomics based on the international trend of Thatcherism/ Reganism, all about "the economic markets will determine the best for everyone and every thing" extreme right wing So everything gets sold off, remove all subisties.... About that time international laws changed so our 12 mile economic zone went out to 200 miles Result leaves natural resources , like fisheries, timber , forests etc open to the "fix all" market pressures. As time goes on a teacher no longer earns around 75% of a MPs salary.. the majority of the NZ wage/ salaries moved from the middle incpme to the top 5 or 10% of the population, far more heads off shore.... Then move on a decade or so, we have to bring in things like rent and income subsidies.. even nor what was the mid to low middle come earner in previous decades.. We have an unemployment in under fit 25 yr olds, lot of that is outside cities, that is around the same number as the number temp workers we import to pick our fruit milk our cows... Then top THAT off the tax these ppl pay is damn near the same cost that we pay for locals not to work. I didnt mean any disrespect there V8... But that quota was sold off yes in retropect BIG mistake.. but damn its just a very small part after 3 decades or so thatcherism, Reganisim, Rogarnomics extremist "the market pressure will fix everything" BS all clothed over the self righteous philosophy of taking personal responsibility The issue now.. be it climate change, re adjusting incomes.. in particular to top end the middle/ bottom end incomes , so everyone doesnt need to be taxed and redistributed in wage and rent subsidies.. And things like the market driven fish quota system, put the resource and citizen access to the top priority in management. To do that we need pollies.. leader who have the balls.. like King, Sedden, Kirk, Lange.. and even muldoon .. some of these went in the wrong direction.. but had the balls to do so. If not.., history shows us that there WILL be a point that the citizens will force the priority to be the people not the dollar, and all hell breaks loose.. economically ( socially it already would have.) |
Cameras on boats - a vital step forward
Recreational fishing group LegaSea is calling on Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash to stand firm against industry pressure to dump the introduction of cameras and electronic monitoring on commercial fishing boats.
LegaSea is challenging industry claims that it is engaging in best practice fishing endeavours, and that cameras and other forms of monitoring are not required.
Dave Turner, director of Fisheries Management at the Ministry for Primary Industries has been quoted saying,"We estimate that if we found the golden bullet to stop discarding, we would probably put over half of the inshore fleet out of business overnight..." This admission alone should be truth enough to continue with the surveillance cameras.
”Fisheries Management can't quantify the tonnages involved but we suspect they are significant to the point that they are impacting on stocks,” said Turner.
When historical claims of dumping against the industry were investigated in 2013 MPI officials countered by announcing plans for a new electronic monitoring package to solve these systemic sins. Now it seems we are to forego even this.
While many boats are run professionally there are fishers who operate illegally. They are difficult to catch because offending is easily hidden far out at sea.
LegaSea spokesman Scott Macindoe says, "These fishers give the industry a bad name but worse still, they give the fishery a hiding. This has to stop. The public are sick of it, the stocks can’t sustain this kind of abuse and unless these operators are exposed or forced to change their ways, everyone including our kids will lose”.
“We know that more seabirds are killed on boats with cameras than are reported killed on boats without direct observers in place. We know from the ‘Sea Around Us’ research that the industry dumps more fish than it lands. We know that the industry was happy to have cameras when they were run by its own privately-held company, and we know that the industry lost the footage recorded in the early trials. Cameras are the least we can do to protect our fisheries, our dolphins and our seabirds, and we strongly urge the Minister to make the right decision here.”
“The industry needs reform. We’ve called for a Commission of Inquiry into the way our fisheries are managed and we need to know what is going on aboard these vessels. After all, our fisheries are a public resource and as such we all have kaitiakitanga obligations to fulfill.
“Recently we applauded the Minister for rejecting the industry call for camera footage to be withheld from public scrutiny. Now sir, please put our fisheries first and follow through with both the implementation of the electronic monitoring package as well as a full and proper inquiry into the way our fisheries are being managed”
Tagit wrote: So according to the CEO of the comm group Fisheries Inshore NZ in this article it is going to cost the best part of $200k per boat to put cameras on them????? Some of the boats possibly aren't worth that much themselves. No wonder they wanted to set up their own technology company to supply the cameras etc. I figure there are some huge margins to be made with those sort of numbers. Cost me around $500 and a days work to put 4 cameras around my house. I guess if you go for the super duper all weather cameras and allow for the installation and a radio based data link you could probably find $20k if you tried really hard. Then allow a couple of guys for a week to install you might find another $10k if you don't mind being ripped off. So where does the ~$200k per boat come from? |
Tasman and Golden Bay snapper still running hot We are not far away from daylight... Read More >
Variety is the spice of life On one recent trip, the plan was to spend a... Read More >
Fish where the fish are! Catching fish or just going fishing? I tackle this issue... Read More >
Thoughtful tactics required for better fish Over the course of each year the fishing varies,... Read More >