North Island eel fishery cut
Orange roughy, hoki catches reduced by Minister
The North Island eel fishery is victim to significant cuts in commercial catches for the 1 October fishing year announced by the Minister of Fisheries, Jim Anderton, recently. Also included in the commercial cuts are hoki and orange roughy stocks, among others.
Commercial catch limits for the North Island eel fishery have been reduced by between 13 and 78 percent, with the recreational and customary allowances remaining unchanged. Mr Anderton says he wants “to bring about a clear improvement in the North Island eel fishery by 2014.”
The cuts affect short-finned (SFE 20-23) and long-finned (LFE 20-23) eels in the Northland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay/Wellington, and the Taranaki/Rangitikei stocks."
Shortfin and longfin stocks of the North Island are held in high regard by non-commercial fishing interests. I believe that the expectations of customary and recreational fishing interests have not been met in recent decades, and the management strategy I have confirmed seeks to explicitly address this situation,” he said.
Commercial catches of orange roughy have been cut in ORH 3B (South and east Chatham Rise), ORH 7B (off the central West Coast of the South Island) and ORH 1 (Bay of Plenty to Cape Reinga and the West Coast of the North Island).
Orange roughy 7B has effectively been closed with a 1 tonne allowable catch (TAC) and total allowable commercial catch (TACC) set for the year. Orange roughy 1 has suffered a reduction of 38 percent to 914 tonnes, with the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) reduced to 870 tonnes for the year, while the TAC and TACC for orange roughy 3B has been set at 11,025 and 10,500 tonnes respectively.
I have significant reservations about the quality and reliability of the scientific stock assessment of orange roughy fishery on the Chatham Rise and I have directed the Ministry to get this reviewed before next season.
Despite calls by fishing industry leaders Sealord, Aotearoa Fisheries Limited and Sanford in July to cut the current 100,000-tonne catch by 20 percent for the long-term good of the hoki fishery the Minister has reduced the hoki catch by only 10 percent. “In Sealord's view, it is a question of short-term pain for long-term gain,” AFL executive chairman Robin Hapi said at the time. “Recruitment of young fish has been poor, particularly to the western stock, and there is a strong scientific view that this related to environmental factors.”
The Minister has reduced catches by 10 percent and requested the industry reduced the western stock catch by nearly 50 percent. ” To cushion the economic impact of this reduction on the industry I have suggested a modest increase in the fishery on the eastern stock, which appears to be well above that which is sustainable target level,” Mr Anderton said.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Fisheries had put three proposals on the table, including the status quo with 60 percent taken from the eastern stock and 40 percent from the western stock and a second option with a different split favour more catch from the eastern stock. The industry leaders, however, supported the more conservative move of a 20 percent cut.
The Minister has also reduced the catch limit of the South Island red cod fishery by 63 percent, with further reductions possible.
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