Fisheries New Zealand is seeking feedback from tangata whenua, stakeholders, and the public on proposed changes to sustainability measures for East Coast tarakihi stocks for 1 October 2021.

In December 2019, Forest and Bird filed proceedings seeking judicial review of the Minister’s 2019 decision setting catch limits for East Coast tarakihi. Their arguments included that the catch limit reductions were not sufficient to allow the stock to rebuild in a “period appropriate to the stock”.

The High Court’s judgment was issued in June 2021. It directs the Minister to have regard to the Court’s findings in making his 2021 decision as to the total allowable catch (TAC) and total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for East Coast tarakihi stocks. A copy of the judgment is available here:

https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/royal-forest-and-bird-protection-society-of-new-zealand-incorporated-v-minister-of-fisheries: 

In light of the judgment, Fisheries New Zealand is now proposing a review of catch limits, allowances and deemed values for the East Coast tarakihi stocks (TAR 2, TAR 3 and the east portion of TAR 1 and TAR 7).

Detailed information on the proposed changes, including our associated consultation paper, can be found on the Fisheries New Zealand website at:

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/consultations/review-of-east-coast-tarakihi-sustainability-measures-for-1-october-2021/.

Alternatively, hard copies of these documents may be requested at the email or postal addresses provided below.

The consultation process for this will have condensed timeframe in order to meet the 1 October 2021 deadline, with submissions closing on 9 August 2021.