Broadbill - NZBGFC comments

Swordfish management has been a perennial issue for the NZBGFC. It is again a topic of heated debate amongst recreational anglers as isolated pieces of information and observation of commercial catch are reported by the membership. New to the debate is the recent tendering of quota surplus from the introduction of the species into the Quota Management System (QMS) which in the case of swordfish was most of it. Also new to the debate are rumours of overseas ownership of almost all the swordfish quota and how could this be allowed to happen?

Like most things, this tale has it beginnings a long time ago, back as far as 1987 and a thing called the Billfish Moratorium. The Moratorium’s purpose was to protect marlin from commercial fishing but because they used the term ‘Billfish’ and not ‘Marlin’, Broadbill (another term for swordfish) was included in the moratorium. This was a mistake but as the NZ commercial catch of swordfish at the time was minimal, less than 20 tonnes, this went unnoticed until it affected commercial long-liners who caught the occasional swordfish as by-catch when chasing tuna. The moratorium proved to be very successful and recreational marlin captures improved steadily over the three years it was in force. The commercial “no take” of marlin element of the moratorium then became a regulation which still stands to this day. The remaining items including broadbill elements continued as the “Billfish memorandum of understanding”. This was an agreement between recreational and commercial fisher’s on broadbill management and voluntary aspects of marlin management.  However to get agreement we were never going to get away with a nil swordfish commercial capture rate again so the agreed commercial take was heavily debated to achieve an acceptable level of by-catch of broadbill for tuna long-line operations. The understanding also included research and monitoring requirements on broadbill take plus some commercial “no go” areas to allow recreational anglers a better chance of catching fish at the nearby sea mounts. 

These yearly negotiations became more difficult to settle at each session as the commercial fishers were rapidly expanding their long-line fleet and wanted more permissible by-catch. The by-catch had gone from less than 20 tonnes in 1990 to 200 tonnes in 1995. Also the NZBGFC were very suspicious that illegal targeting of swordfish by some operators was becoming more common. The last agreement was in 1996 and in 1997 the document was never ratified. Not surprisingly this is when swordfish commercial catch accelerated very quickly to over 1000 tonnes in the 1999/2000 fishing year! Needless to say our concern intensified and letters to Ministers and MFish flowed, essentially asking that an immediate catch limit be imposed to stop the explosion in swordfish captures and what was now blatant and unchecked targeting.

From 2000 - 2002 there were a series of meetings with the commercial reps with MFish officials in attendance to see if a solution could be found. While a lot of common elements could be agreed, a capped take of swordfish was going to be conditional on some commercial access to marlin as by-catch, which was plainly unacceptable to our membership. However in our many letters to the Minister we asked that the introduction of swordfish into to the QMS be given priority as this would at least stop the barely restrained and rapidly growing take of swordfish. In October 2004 swordfish entered into the QMS. This caused a number of things to happen, most of them in the favour of recreational anglers albeit temporarily.

Firstly the initial allocation of quota was set at 919 tonnes of which 885 tonnes was allocated as total allowed commercial catch (TACC). A total catch limit was finally imposed, not at an ideal level but at least constrained from the free for all that had existed. The long line fishers who were in operation in 1990/92 were allocated their catch history entitlement which amounted to 60 tonnes, 20 % of the TACC was allocated to Maori fishing interests as required by the Fisheries Act which left  647  tonnes in Crown ownership. Commercial fishers who did not own quota were then forced to purchase from MFish an Annual Catch Entitlement (ACE) to enable them to fish for tuna and legally take any broadbill they also caught. If they didn’t have ACE they would then have to pay deemed values which is a punitive measure to stop targeting by those who did not have quota or ACE for swordfish. Essentially this added another bill to most long liner operations which with rising fuel cost, successive bad seasons for tuna and high NZ dollar caused a rapid drop in long-line operations. The active long-line fishing fleet dropped from over 100 boats to less than 30 boats in 18 months. The net result was the annual broadbill catch dropped significantly to 300 tonnes.

However the Crown is not in the commercial fishing business and is obliged to sell by tender the quota it holds. Now it is important to understand that if you successfully tender for quota that you own the harvest right for a proportional share of the TACC, a property right that can be fished, leased or on sold. It also incurs obligations to pay levies for research and management. So the Crowns share of 647 tonnes of swordfish quota, was put up for tender. The NZBGFC management briefly considered putting in a tender itself but time constraints, principle of partaking in the commercial fishing regime and ability to raise the expected 5 million dollars required to purchase the full tender amount soon ruled the idea impractical. It should be noted however had this situation arisen in the USA the money would have been raised from a few sport fishing benefactors within a heart beat.

It was a surprise to learn that MFish accepted tenders totaling just 1.9 million dollars for the full amount at an average price of $2.89 per kilo with the highest tender being $7. There were 19 successful tenders with the biggest parcel being the equivalent of 250 tonnes of ACE and we now have a combined total of 67 shareholders of the swordfish fishery. All shareholders who actively fish their share must do it from a New Zealand based Company and abide by all MFish regulations and requirements of the Fisheries Act. So while an offshore financed holder is entirely possible in any NZ commercial fishing operation, ownership of quota must remain in NZ. It is inevitable though, that whoever owns the quota and fished it would export the majority of their catch offshore wherever the best market was.

So what does all this mean for recreational anglers and their ability to catch a swordfish? The current annual catch may have dropped considerably but this will only be temporary until market conditions and operating factors improve. Then we can expect the 885 tonnes to be fully fished plus possible over fishing by deeming. The NZBGFC has always advocated that any fishery should be fished conservatively until good science is obtained to allow fishing anywhere near a maximum sustainable yield. MFish and commercial fishers will argue that the current allocation is conservative. We of course would prefer a more restrained approach. Currently there is more research being done on swordfish including a satellite tracking program. Whatever happens, over time and under the current MFish management and Government policy the TACC will be driven to achieve the maximum sustainable yield which is not good news for recreational anglers. Any fishery at the maximum sustainable yield delivers smaller faster growing fish and like our current issue with kahawai will make them far less accessible at places where we can fish for them.

We have anglers willing to pay $20,000 for charters to catch a swordfish and NZ’s reputation as producing world class fish and records is bringing in many foreign anglers willing to spend considerably more to land one of these prized fish. They are the king as far as billfish are concerned and grow to a similar size as the female blue or black marlin. The IGFA World record is 536kg with bigger and heavier fish recorded by commercial fishers including NZ based operators, in this case by estimation after processing the fish. However we will soon lose this reputation if the close in accessible sea mounts are not protected from commercial long-lining. It appears some swordfish do remain residential year round and localized management on a small scale could be beneficial to recreational fishing of swordfish. We had “no go” areas in the Memorandum of Understanding which when working properly had benefits. Our task is now to achieve the same by use of the Fisheries Act and section 311 to achieve spatial separation from long-line operations. We also need to be vigilant each time swordfish come under review by MFish that any growth of the TACC is backed by good science and that the many commercial fishing practices as demonstrated by operators in the USA to keep catch figures up and fudge the science is not condoned here.

Jeff Romerill, President NZBGFC August 2006