Review of Regulatory and Other Management Controls for 1 April 2008
Between June and August 2007 the Ministry of Fisheries consulted on a number of regulatory measures proposed for 1 April 2008.
A Final Advice Paper (see below) was provided to the Minister of Fisheries in late October, and the Minister has now made his decisions, which are contained in the attached decision letter.
Download the Minister's decision letter (PDF 21KB)
In summary, the Minister has decided to:
- prohibit the stalling of set nets in the Kaipara Harbour;
- align the recreational scallop season on the north-west coast of the North Island (FMA 9) with the season on the north-east coast of the North Island (FMA 1);
- enable commercial fishers targeting surf clams to use a dredge with a bar or bit of any length;
- amend the regulations relating to fishing interactions with marine turtles;
- remove the requirement to complete “container type” information for all returns to the sea under the Sixth Schedule of the Act;
- enable fishers to legally return paddle crab to sea;
- enable fishers to legally return deepwater crab to sea;
- correct two minor and technical errors in fishing area coordinates;
- allow the Ministry of Fisheries to make administrative changes to infringement and reminder notices in order to specify additional payment methods for infringement fees without making regulatory amendments.
The Ministry’s Final Advice Paper to the Minister is also available for download. The paper was split into three volumes - Volume 1 contains Final Advice Papers and Recommendations; Volume 2 contains Initial Position Papers, Summary of Submissions and Submissions; Volume 3 contains Stakeholder submissions.
Please note - Some of these files are very large and may take time to download. These documents have been compressed to reduce download time. A CD of the four volumes can be made available if you require a higher resolution version or have trouble downloading these documents. To request this CD, please email comms@fish.govt.nz.
* Part 1 contains submissions from Peter Yardley, option4, Trevor Collings, Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Ltd, Sanford Ltd.
** Part 2 contains submissions from The Northern Fisheries Management Stakeholder Company Ltd, The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, Environs Holdings Ltd, Farmers of New Zealand, Northland Non-Commercial Fishing Forum.
*** Part 3 contains submissions from New Zealand Fishing Industry Guild Inc, Kaipara Harbour Sustainable Fisheries Management Study Group, RJ & JE Butts Ltd, Motupipi Fishing Company Ltd, Crabco Ltd.
**** Part 4 contains submissions from Kaipara District Fishery Sub-Committee, New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council, OCMS International Investments Ltd, The Reliance Fishing Company Ltd.
IPP - Review of Regulatory and other Management Controls for 01 April 2008
Each year the Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) undertakes a process to review the management measures for some of New Zealand’s fisheries. The Initial Position Paper (IPP) provides you with MFish’s initial position on the regulatory measures and other management controls being reviewed for 1 April 2008.
The contents of the IPP are as follows:
Introduction (PDF 74kb)
Review of the Regulation that permits stalling of nets in the Kaipara Harbour (PDF 118kb)
Amendment to the Recreational Scallop season in Fisheries Management Area 9 (PDF 124kb)
Surf Clam Dredge size (PDF 135kb)
Review of the Regulations relating to Fishing Interactions with Marine Turtles (PDF 437kb)
Container Type Reporting for Schedule Six Discards (PDF 99kb)
Paddle Crab: Allowing for Return to Sea (PDF 172kb)
Proposal to list Deepwater Crabs on Schedule Six of the Fisheries Act 1996 (PDF 152kb)
Stakeholder Letter (PDF 68kb)
Complete IPP Document (PDF 650kb)
Should you wish to receive further information about any of the proposals contained in the IPP, please contact:
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Deepwater crab - Aoife Martin, Acting Manager Socio-Economic Team, Wellington, (04) 819 4675, or e-mail aoife.martin@fish.govt.nz
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Surf clams dredge size - Scott Williamson, Inshore Fisheries Manager, Nelson, (03) 545 8786, or e-mail scott.williamson@fish.govt.nz
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Scallop season, Kaipara harbour net stalling - Sarah Omundsen, Inshore Fisheries Manager, Auckland, (09) 820 7771, or e-mail sarah.omundsen@fish.govt.nz
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Paddle crab, Container type reporting – Leigh Mitchell, Inshore Fisheries Manager, Napier, (06) 831 0264, or e-mail leigh.mitchell@fish.govt.nz
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Turtles – Graeme McGregor, Senior Fisheries Analyst, Auckland, (09) 820 7689, or e-mail graeme.mcgregor@fish.govt.nz
Finally, we note that all submissions that are received for the purposes of the sustainability measures and other management controls process are publicly available under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). Should any person or organisation wish for any information contained in their submission to be withheld under the OIA, the grounds for withholding the information must be provided in the submission.