Mahuru 2008
Issue 15

  1. Te Ohu Kaimoana supports changes to Fisheries Act
  2. New online fisheries information
  3. Touch of the wing tip
  4. Taranaki iwi receive remainder of settlement assets
  5. The future is in our hands
  6. Crown reviews delivery of aquaculture settlement to Maori
  7. AFL increases ownership in abalone
  8. China opportunities explored
  9. Kahawai catches to be reviewed next year
  10. AFL moves to Auckland
  11. AFL reports good half-year profit
  12. Sealord vessel forfeiture unnecessary
  13. Te Ohu hopeful of Bluenose reduction
  14. Seals eating fish species, study shows
  15. Rock lobster negotiations fail as recreational fishers leave the table
  16. Aust aquaculture meeting attended by Maori

Other Issues >>

Kahawai catches to be reviewed next year

Quota allocations between the different fishing sectors for kahawai will be reviewed in 2009, along with the recreational daily bag limit, the Government has announced.

The decision comes on the heels of a Court of Appeal case concerning the allocation of the kahawai fishery between recreational and commercial fishing interests

“The management of our kahawai fishery has been controversial. There is competition between commercial, customary and recreational fishers for their share of the catch and this has lead to conflict and court action,” Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said when announcing the delay to any decision on kahawai.

He said there was not enough time to deal with the issues before the October 1 fishing year and instead delayed the decision for 12 months.

Until 2004, kahawai was managed outside of the Quota Management System (QMS). On its introduction into the QMS, the Fisheries Minister had to set the initially total allowable catch for each quota management area and apportion the TACs between the sector groups, particularly the commercial and the recreational interests by setting the Total Allowable Commercial Catch.

The court cases on the matter concerned those decisions and the subsequent decision to reduce the TACs, TACCs and allowances in 2005.

Recreational fishing groups (New Zealand Big Game Fishing Council and New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council) brought the proceedings in late 2005, claiming that the Minister failed to property take into account the “recreational interests” when setting the TAC, TACCs and non-commercial allowances.

The commercial fishing representatives (Sanford, Sealord and Pelagic & Tuna New Zealand) filed a counter claim alleging the Minister failed to put in place management controls (such as reduced bag limits) to ensure there was an actual reduction in the level of recreational catch following the reductions in non-commercial allowances in 2004 and 2005, that he overestimated the historical levels of recreational catch in the 2004 and 2005 initial allocations and failed to put in place reasonable measures to monitor and assess the recreational catch and whether it stayed within the reduced recreational limits.

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Tiakina ngā rawa hi ika, a tātou kaimoana mo ngā uri whakaheke
Protecting Māori fisheries assets for future generations