by frog
This week the House debated the Fisheries Act 1996 Amendment Bill (No 2). This Bill simply allows for the Minister to set Total Allowable Catch (TAC) limits under the Quota Management Scheme (QMS) with incomplete information about the state of the fish stock. The Minister has to be able to do this because only 24 of the 629 fish stocks have complete data.
Green Party Fisheries spokesperson Metiria Turei put up an amendment to the Bill to ensure that in the face of stock uncertainty, the TAC should not be increased. If they were, it would breach the precautionary principle and would obviously be unsustainable.
Preventing increases would also incentivise the research to get quantitative estimates so we can be certain the catch is sustainable. We invest less today on stock assessment research than we did 15 years ago. In real terms, it is under half what was spent in the early 1990s.
Unfortunately, most parties in Parliament are quite happy to see our fisheries continue to be exploited, despite their rhetorical commitments to sustainability. The only party to support Metiria’s amendment was the Maori Party, and they deserve credit for that.
Very soon the Minister must set a TAC for bluenose, which has woefully inadequate information on fish stocks. At least he can now set the TAC, but the fact that the law allows him to increase the TAC in this situation is outrageous.
Fortunately, the Fisheries Act is up for a review next year, and the Greens will be in flippers and all. The EU has realised its QMS is flawed is also undertaking a full review at the moment.
Published in Environment & Resource Management | Parliament by frog on Fri, September 26th, 2008
Tags: bluenose, conservation, election, fish, Metiria Turei, policy, quota, TAC
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
...
I’m interested in the Blue Cod stock in the Marlborough Sounds. I understand that the catch has been limited, or stopped in the interests of sustainability. I move I fully support.
Anyone know anything about it? How sustainable is Blue Cod in NZ?
(I’ve read the book “Cod” – anyone else?)
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
The cod in the sounds are the sort that are only fit for the wet dreams of pescatorial pedophiles … Im with you guys on this ( sigh) but you could use the deplorable state of the scampi stocks to highlight this issue.
Last time I fished in thesounds I was gobsmacked by how small the cod were..
nothing like Foveaux Strait cod!!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Forest and Bird’s best fish guide ranks Blue Cod as D.
More info here:
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/bestfishguide/species/bluecod.asp
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
Talking about fishy tales is there a quota for plastic bags in the ocean?
They do out number the fish!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)