The future is in our hands
He Kororia ki te Atua
He maungarongo ki runga i te whenua
He whakaaro pai ki nga tangata katoa
Nga whakaaro ki a ratou kua wheturangitia, me ou ratou whanau i noho ai i raro i te kapua pouri.
Nga manaakitanga o te Atua ki runga i a tatou katoa.
Soon we will head to the polls to elect a new government. For many, fisheries issues will be an important factor in determining which party leads our country in the future.
Over the last few years we have had to deal with a significant number of legislative and regulatory proposals for our industry. There has been the proposal to change Section 10 of the Fisheries Act and this was opposed by Te Ohu Kaimoana. Our organisation spent much of last year educating the public that utilisation was just as important as sustainability in the context of the Fisheries Act and this needed to be recognised.
We worked to make leaders see the futility of imposing fishing restrictions to “save” the Maui’s dolphin from further depletion. Our efforts at highlighting that not one Maui’s dolphin had been killed by the commercial fishing industry since voluntary measures were introduced more than five years ago went unnoticed. Severe restrictions were imposed on the inshore fishing industry while the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Fisheries remain in the dark about how to deal with the real major threats to Maui’s dolphins – pollution, habitat degradation and predation.
There have been many issues just as important as these during the last few years that illustrate the importance of the work of Te Ohu Kaimoana. Fisheries management makes up a huge amount of our work. However, we must realise that the fisheries management issues that we deal with on a daily basis go beyond any one particular government.
The challenges we face will continue to take up our time and effort despite which party is in power. It is not which government or coalition is in power that determines the level of work that we have to do to protect our industry rather it is how our industry conducts itself that is our challenge. We must meet numerous thresholds to secure our future in a changing world.
While some of us feel we have had to continually justify our environmental management over at least the last decade, there is certainly no indication that this will reduce. The forces that have seen the industry face such scrutiny have come from overseas as much as from domestic pressures. There is mounting international pressure from anti-fishing NGOs. We must face this or lose our industry.
In order to do this, we must continue investing in scientists, resource managers, policy advisers and other professionals who can understand the ever more technical arguments put forward by these groups.
Te Ohu Kaimoana must also do its bit ... and we welcome that challenge. There is much in our favour. The most important, of course, is that eating fish at least two times a week is necessary for a healthy diet. Consumption of seafood remains strong among Kiwis. With the right environmental credentials and management procedures, our future is assured. This is our fight and not one we can expect any government to take up for us.
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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations