DRAFT NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION FOR THE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF SHARKS

The Ministry of Fisheries, with input from the Department of Conservation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has produced a draft National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (NPOA-Sharks).

The NPOA-Sharks details measures to manage and conserve sharks that are either targeted or taken as incidental bycatch in New Zealand fisheries waters.

To address global concerns about the management of sharks, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed an International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks). The overarching goal of the IPOA-Sharks is ‘to ensure the conservation and management of sharks and their long-term sustainable use’.

To achieve this goal, the IPOA-Sharks identifies principles and objectives for shark management at the national level to be implemented through the development of NPOA-Sharks. The challenge for New Zealand is to ensure that management strategies for sharks are in place that provide a sufficiently high probability of achieving these internationally-accepted goals for shark stocks.

 Download the draft NPOA-sharks (PDF 380KB)

The Ministry is now seeking views from interested parties on the draft NPOA-Sharks. If you would like to provide a submission on this proposal please forward your views by 1 February 2008 to:

Tracey Steel
Ministry of Fisheries
P.O. Box 1020
WELLINGTON

Or email them to: tracey.steel@fish.govt.nz