Glossary

ACE:

Annual Catch Entitlement. An entitlement to harvest a quantity of fish, aquatic life, seaweed or other stock, taken in accordance with a fishing permit and any conditions and limitations imposed by or under the Fisheries Act 1996.

Aquatic environment:

The natural and biological resources comprising any aquatic ecosystem and including all aquatic life and the oceans, seas, coastal areas, intertidal areas, estuaries, rivers, lakes and other places where aquatic life exists.

Benthic Areas:

Areas at the bottom of the water column, including the seabed.

Deepwater stocks:

Those with a centre of distribution below 500 metres.

Demersal:

Occurring on or near the seabed.

Fisheries Management Areas:

Geographic areas that are used to define fish stocks.

Fisheries plan:

A plan approved by the Minister of Fisheries under section 11A of the Fisheries Act 1996. Fisheries plans specify what the government, tangata whenua and stakeholders want to achieve for specific fisheries (the objectives), and associated implementation strategies and services (including research, regulations and compliance) to achieve the objectives.

Fisheries stakeholders:

Those groups who derive value from the use of fisheries resources or have a strong interest in the sustainable use of fisheries resources, including commercial and recreational fishers, and environmental interests.

Fish stock:

A species of fish, shellfish or other marine life within a particular area of the country that is treated as one ‘unit’ by the fisheries management system. Catch allowances are set for commercial, recreational and customary fishers for each fish stock (area).

Mātaitai reserve:

An identified traditional fishing ground established as a reserve under either the Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Fishing) Regulations 1998 or the Fisheries (South Island Customary Fishing) Regulations 1999. A mātaitai reserve may be managed by tangata whenua for non-commercial purposes through bylaws approved by the Minister. Māori and non-Māori may fish in these areas.

Middle depths:

Depths below the outer edge of the continental shelf and including the upper continental slope. In New Zealand this is usually considered to be between 200 and 800 metres.

Outcome:

A desirable future condition of all or part of the social or physical environment towards which fisheries management effort is directed.

Pelagic:

Occurring on or near the surface of the sea.

Pou Hononga:

Relationship managers appointed to improve the Ministry’s formal relationships with Māori based on the Crown’s obligations under the Deed of Settlement and Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

Pou Takawaenga:

The role of the Pou Takawaenga is to assist the Ministry to meet its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Claims Settlement Act 1992. The team was established in May 2005 to support work on the Iwi Regional Forums which are
being established and managed by the Ministry’s Pou Hononga Team.

Quota Management System (QMS):

The term applied to New Zealand’s fishery management system that works by allocating rights to fish certain species as individual transferable quotas. A limit is set on the amount of certain each fish stock that may be taken in a given year.

Rahui:

A ban on collecting/harvesting seafood in an area.

RFMO:

Regional Fisheries Management Organisation is the term used to describe multi-lateral organisations with responsibility for coordinating the management of highly migratory fish stocks (fish that travel through several national management boundaries) and fish stocks that straddle national fisheries management boundaries.

Tangata whenua:

In relation to a particular area, means the hapū, or iwi, that is Māori and holds mana whenua (customary authority)

Taonga:

Treasures