http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201800847/nz's-catch-nearly-three-times-official-count-study

The Commercial sector has been under reporting their catches for decades - 

And it was not MPI's fault...... No mention that MPI is an ineffectual manager of fisheries, biosecurity, our food supply - I have many examples.

Wake up Hon Nathan Guy, this report means you need to take action and not put cameras on fishing boats.

And Sandfords.

The comments from Prof Matthew Dunn seemed quite pragmatic and fair, the second half of the article. NIWA did seem a little defensive, but when you get the likes of Greenpeace shouting conspiracy and coverup at every step you would be a little defensive also.

Got to question how objective MPI are when they don't release information (that they've produced) that is critical of the commercial sector.

 

This appears to be the problem. MPI tried to cover it up.

this is what i would also like to know ... i dont really see the value of crying over anything prior to the introduction of QMS. Yes we know we were raping and pillaging the seas then, we know what we did to Orange Roughy fisheries and many others, we screwed up and we have attempted to make things better, Hoki is a good example of things improving under QMS.

(using the collective we here, not referring to rec fishermen)

 

I see the same thing in a number of other industries I deal with, blind arrogance and massive egos, blinding then to reality.

 

The only way we are ever going to see a change will be when the public outcry is such that the governing party starts to lose voter support, that is when we will see change. We sure as hell will not see MPI making changes based on pure science alone.

The new report that has been deemed comparatively 'un-scientific' by J Key did attempt to make some allowance for the change in behaviour when observers are not present. If I understood all the comments correctly I would call J Keys' comment either deliberately misleading, badly informed, or badly thought through. As for the 6% figure, anyone who puts any credibility in that has their head in the sand if I understood the Niwa guys comments correctly. Why is it that every time a new bit of info comes to light about the negative aspects of our commercial fishery, the governments immediate response is to throw smoke and mirrors at it? It gets more and more damning every time it happens.

 

/sarc

How the hell did the people of NZ get to the point where they effectively only own 1.3% of the total fish biomass and are already having to raise $100's of $1000's in legal fees to protect even that pitiful share. I know that isn't an exactly true statement, but it is close enough to the real truth to make you wonder whether this is the result of total muppetry or mass corruption. It certainly doesn't look to be the result of a government managing our fisheries in the best interests of the people of NZ.

Imagine if NZ developed a specialist deep water charter fleet specifically targeting a huge abundance of Hoki, Roughy, etc. Set it up so that there is a dedicated fish chilling/packaging arrangement and allow overseas anglers to come and catch dozens of fish per trip that they could then ship home on a special licence basis . You could probably cut the total catch by 90% and double the economic value to NZ. Visitors could be guaranteed to take home enough fish to pay for their trip (at retail values) and we would still have a massive under harvest compared to the typical commercial rape and pillage. Running huge nets through breeding schools turns a potentially highly valuable resource into a basic commodity product sold at basic commodity prices where the pressure is always more on cutting costs more than it is on maximising the returns to NZ.

But that seems to be what we do now.  Export iron sand so other countries can sell us cheap steel and put our steel industry out of work.  Sell unprocessed logs, then import it back made into other stuff.  There was a time when we actually made things from the resources we have.  But there was also a time, the same time actually, where NZ workers earned reasonable pay and could afford to buy a house in NZ and raise a family. 

I'm certain that a properly resourced drive to develop NZ as the worlds premier fishing destination would bring far more money into the country then the current tourism plans, which seem to consist heavily of "freedom campers" who spend relatively little but cost us in the infrastructure we're having to build to support their numbers.  it's not about numbers, it's about the money they bring into the country.  if we can get the same cash flowing in with half the number of visitors that would be a great thing.

The thing that struck me most about this was the fact that an individual seemed to have got further with a better harvesting system for fish with a few thousand dollars and a bit of ingenuity than the big companies have got with tens of millions of dollars.  We keep hearing all about their "precision harvesting system" that's going to be ready to trial "real soon".  It's almost as if they aren't really trying, but want to make it look like they are.

This country will hit rock bottom before change comes. History has shown this to be the case with similar fisheries worldwide. Greed first, then repentance.

I remember once having a good degree of respect for what is MPI now and it's officers......that is unfortunately going out the door. Their fault.

Thanks for explaining Herby, the abillity to look at changes  in catch between observed and non observed trips makes sense. I suspect however that your in the wrong church for this sermon.

I ask again, where is the post-QMS data for comparison?

An analogy that may help clarify my point is like counting petrol usage for all boats i have owned and having the data from my old 140hp 2-stroke Johnson included in fuel usage for my 100hp 4-stroke Honda. Then concluding that going forward with the Honda I will use a lot more fuel.

Yes I agree the govt is corrupt, yes i agree the QMS allows for legal wastage, no i dont agree with the fact, yes i agree the QMS needs reviewed, yes i agree with a "land all catch" policy (similar to Iceland i think it is), yes i believe we should process all catch in NZ, and yes i believe we should do value add products to supply export markets.

But this data set going back to the 50's is pointless. You would all be complaining if the govt used rec catch data from the 50's to influence policy toward reducing rec catch totals.

Do you really actually think this would work? in the real world? realistically?

Some of it is historic and systems and monitoring have got better.

 

So cameras where on some commercial boats. They were put there because of the risk assessment for Hectors and Maui Dolphins and public pressure, six?? years ago.

 

100% observer coverage on Foreign Charter Vessels (mostly 12 hours a day) was put in place after the review of labour and fishing practices Three??? years ago after a long period of public pressure and crews refusing to go back on boats. From now on vessels fishing in our water have to be NZ flagged.

 

What was the observer coverage or camera coverage on inshore trawlers before the snapper debate in 2013?  Almost none.  Again MPI and industry are not proactive but responding to the public and media spotlight.

 

This report is part of a global catch reconstrution study.  The methods used are not one off guesses, but they are not conventional data collection either, because much of this behaviour is illegal and so is hidden.

A media release will follow.

There is a Fisheries Plan meeting tomorrow and we will see how MPI and industry respond.

Certainly the team will look at the evidence in inshore fisheries in particular.

The misreporting of landed weights by fish recievers has been going on for ever, ripping off the guy catching the fish as well as the system. Ther needs to be tracability of fish from boat to consumer.

It vindicates along what a lot of us have always known ,the acknowledgement that it does happen has been along time in coming ,we want every thing now even what's under embargo released to expose those who have for years been in the know ,the bribes,payments to successive governments ( both Labour and National alike )

 

Who cares about the damage it could or can do ? Let the truth be known ..

 

The fish are better off alive in the water than just being killed for nothing such a dreadful waste of life ,food and environment damage.

 

Its just not the fish ..its the birds,dolphin's  ..

 

Let New Zealand's Non clean and green image be out in front of the world ...

 

This is where its all headed ........  ( and about time  )

 

I missed that interview this morning by Paul Henry with the MPI executive, but got told that at one point the MPI guy said that in the last year there had been about 11000 observer days on commercial boats and that from this there had been about 3000 formal warnings issued and 260 odd prosecutions. This is terrible, 27% of the observer days their was a non-compliance warranting a formal warning this is when there is an observer onboard and they will be doing their damdest to be compliant, what the hell happens when there is no observer onboard. From what I can gather the MPI guy dodged a bullet there as Paul Henry was focused on another point and missed what he had just said, if I had been Paul Henry and I heard that I would have jumped on him boots and all as he could have had a field day with those numbers.

 

We need to get an interview of the Minister or CEO of MPI or preferably both on prime time television so everybody knows about this.