Review of Rock Lobster Sustainability Measures for 1 April 2012

The Minister for Primary Industries recently made decisions on rock lobster sustainability measures for the 2012-13 fishing year beginning 1 April 2012.
The Minister’s decision letter provides the details of, and reasons for, his decisions.

 Download Ministers Decision Letter (PDF 1.6MB)

In summary the Minister has decided to:

1. CRA 3 (Gisborne) – be guided by the existing CRA 3 Management Procedure and increase the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) from 293 to 322.3 tonnes, and increase the CRA 3 Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) from 164 to 193.3 tonnes.
2. CRA 4 (Wellington/Hawkes Bay) - use the new CRA 4 Management Procedure to guide TAC setting in CRA 4 from the 2012-13 fishing year onwards. Based on the application of the management procedure for the 2012-13 fishing year the current TAC and allowances would remain unchanged.
3. CRA 5 (Canterbury/Marlborough) - use the new CRA 5 Management Procedure to guide TAC setting in CRA 5 from the 2012-13 fishing year onwards. Based on the application of the management procedure for the 2012-13 fishing year the current TAC and allowances would remain unchanged.
4. CRA 7 (Otago) – be guided the existing CRA 7 Management Procedure and decrease the TAC from 95.7 to 83.9 tonnes and decrease the TACC from 75.7 to 63.9 tonnes.

The National Rock Lobster Management Group’s (NRLMG) Final Advice to the Minister is available for download below, including the submissions received from stakeholders: 

 Download NRLMG Final Advice Paper (PDF 540KB)

 Download  NRLMG Final Advice Paper Attachment 6 - Submissions (PDF 1.9MB)

Also available for download is the NRLMG’s Initial Advice on rock lobster sustainability measures:

 Download NRLMG Initial Advice Paper (PDF 392KB)

For further information please contact Alicia McKinnon at 06 831 0279 or alicia.mckinnon@maf.govt.nz