We meet this goal by basing fisheries management decisions on robust scientific opinion and evidence formulated within an open and consultative process. As a result, New Zealand can rightly boast a science-based fisheries management regime among the world's best.

As part of this process, the Ministry undertook two consultative sustainability rounds over the last year. In 1999, because of the need for work on certain key policy initiatives, the process was streamlined by transferring resources into these policy initiatives. Building on this, the next round, starting in May 2000, has been expanded to deal with new sustainability issues.

Research planning

Regular fisheries research provides the information on which sound fisheries management decisions are based. Where such information is uncertain, unreliable or inadequate, we take a precautionary approach. We are committed to improving the quality of our information to ensure future fisheries stock assessments are even more accurate than they are now. As well as maintaining our existing research commitments, we will target research to plug information gaps.

To meet our obligations under the Fisheries Act 1996 and our biodiversity goals, we are developing an environmental management strategy to underpin our existing eco-system based approach. In particular, we are increasing research into the ecosystems in which fishing takes place and the impact of fishing on the environment. We will also focus increasingly on the socio-economic and cultural aspects of fisheries management.

Stock Assessment

New Zealand's fisheries contain a large number of fish and shellfish species, but only about one third are managed within the Quota Management System (QMS). This apparent anomaly is due to the fact that species such as snapper, hoki, orange roughy and rock lobster make up about two-thirds of New Zealand's commercial fisheries by weight and value. Eighty percent of the stocks for these fisheries are above, at or near the size that will support the maximum sustainable yield.

Rebuilding strategies are in place for the remaining 20 percent, but unfortunately some of these stocks are in a parlous state. Orange roughy was identified during the year as a species for which the stock status is uncertain and of concern in many areas.

We recognise there are information gaps, but the small size of many of these fisheries prevents us from obtaining sufficient information to determine their sustainability status.

Enforcement

The Ministry's compliance team is one of the smallest in the world relative to the size of the fishery. The achievement of optimal levels of compliance depends upon the success of compliance strategies, the support of stakeholders as well as our honorary fishery officer networks, and strategic alliances with the NZ Defence Force, NZ Police and other agencies. Success also relies on the collective support of stakeholder groups being translated into behaviour changes of individual participants.

While recognising the expectation of stakeholders that enforcement actions will eliminate offending, the reality is that success in an enforcement context may well indicate failure when measured in terms of voluntary compliance levels. Current levels of compliance and non compliance are not known to any degree of accuracy, and similarly the influence of compliance strategies and programmes are difficult to assess.

Regrettably the successful prosecution of some individuals may have little impact on their attitude to compliance. Enforcement efforts are increasingly frustrated by a growing propensity of some offenders to a response of threat and violence, as well as increasing legal challenge to enforcement actions.

Marine Biosecurity

Exotic marine organisms are introduced into our waters in two main ways, - through ballast water and fouled hulls of ships from other international waters. We have developed controls for the management of ballast water discharge within our territorial sea and are in the process of developing management measures for hull fouling and cleaning.

An Import Health Standard (IHS) to control ballast water discharge was introduced in May 1998. The IHS details the conditions that must be met before ballast water loaded in the territorial water of any other country may be discharged into New Zealand waters. Staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) monitor compliance under an operational agreement with us.

We released a discussion paper on hull cleaning and fouling in January 1999. After considering submissions, we commenced work with other government departments and with Regional Councils, to develop risk-management measures.

As well as these broad marine biosecurity measures, we have also taken specific measures to establish a limited surveillance network and reduce the threat of Undaria to New Zealand's marine environment.

The biosecurity surveillance network was launched in November 1999. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the threat of exotic marine pests and to establish information-capture systems about new species arriving in New Zealand's marine environment.

To develop a national approach to managing Undaria - a potentially serious threat to marine ecological and commercial values - we engaged the Cawthron Institute to prepare a draft management strategy. We are now considering those options and will provide proposals to Ministers soon. This management framework will also provide valuable guidance for dealing with other marine pests.

In developing a national approach to Undaria, we also responded to a specific threat when the FV Seafresh 1 sunk two km off the Chatham Islands.

Weather prevented the salvage company from removing the boat in accordance with our initial direction. Given these circumstances and on advice from marine salvage experts we extended the date for the removal of the vessel until 15 December 2000. This extension was granted on the proviso that the vessel's surfaces be cleaned prior to abandoning salvage attempts for the winter and the vessel will be inspected every 30 days until it is removed.

Biodiversity

New Zealand signed The Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993 which is explicitly recognised in the Fisheries Act. A number of government departments have since developed a biodiversity strategy, launched in April 2000.

Sustaining New Zealand's biodiversity will benefit the whole community through the enhanced productivity that comes from healthy ecosystems. We are working with DoC and MfE to develop a range of programmes to better protect and enhance our marine environment. Forty million dollars is committed to researching and managing marine biodiversity and marine biosecurity over the next five years.

Effectiveness for Maori

We are committed to meeting the Crown's fisheries obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and fisheries settlement. This includes implementing customary fishing regulations, providing 20 percent of new quota to Mäori, and providing for the input and participation of tangata whenua into wider fisheries management.

The Ministry's Treaty Strategy focuses on building strong and meaningful relationships with tangata whenua so as to build tangata whenua capability in fisheries management and our own capability in respect of Treaty issues. In order to base the Ministry's capability of Treaty issues on a sound footing, all our staff have attended a two-day course examining the significance of the Treaty to their work.

Over 20 new positions in the Ministry support the implementation of the customary fishing regulations; all appointments were made in partnership with iwi. In addition, we have joint agreements with five iwi groups which between them employ a further nine people to assist with customary fishing regulations.

These appointments, along with the six customary co-ordinator positions in the Operational Policy Team, have already had a big impact in increasing our skills and on our relationships with iwi and hapu. The new Fishery Officers and iwi liaison officers have undergone their training together at the Police College in Porirua, including time on a local marae hosted by the tangata whenua.

Relationships between tangata whenua groups and the Ministry are taking on a new dimension as tangata whenua go through the process of appointing Tangata Kaitiaki under the customary fishing regulations. So far 82 kaitiaki have been appointed in the South Island and 13 in the North Island with many more notifications in the pipeline. These kaitiaki have helped develop more direct relationships between the groups they represent and the Ministry, based on face to face contact, kanohi ki te kanohi, and a joint approach to addressing fisheries management issues within their rohe.

We have recognised that in order to develop good working relationships with our Treaty partner we need to be more accessible to tangata whenua, both in terms of physical presence and the nature of the processes by which fisheries management decisions are made. This is being specifically addressed in part of the organisational design project mentioned earlier.

Good fisheries management requires buy-in from all users of the resource and the empowerment of stakeholders is fundamental to the Ministry's strategic direction. Strong working relationships with tangata whenua are an essential precursor to the realisation of the Ministry's strategic vision and the achievement of fisheries management outcomes that work for all New Zealanders.

Legislative Reform

Fisheries Act 1996 Amendment Acts

Two Fisheries Amendment Acts were passed during September 1999 and a further Act passed in June 2000.

The Fisheries Amendment Act 1999, and the Fisheries Amendment Act No. 2 introduced changes that will:

increase flexibility in service delivery
simplify the catch-balancing regime
simplify the cost recovery regime
simplify the offences and penalties regime
facilitate the entry of South Island eels and other "Fourth Schedule" species into the QMS, and
allow for the ratification of the United Nations Fishstocks Agreement by providing for the establishment of a High Seas permitting regime.

These enactment's represent the culmination of considerable work by people from across the Ministry in providing advice to Ministers on the changes and then in supporting the Primary Production Select Committee in its consideration of the amendments.

Significant progress was made during the year in implementing the Fisheries Act 1996. This included:

developing a software programme designed to assist Ministry staff and stakeholders to understand the environmental obligations set out in the Act;
work on policy definitions, service standards and specifications to enable design work for new registry computer systems to commence;
completion of a framework document outlining the elements required to permit the direct purchase of services;
mapping out processes needed to support new compliance procedures;
framework development for implementing fisheries plans and the progression of four case studies;
developing processes and systems to implement the provisions in legislation to issue authorisations for fishing activity by New Zealanders outside the Exclusive Economic Zone.

New Registry Programme

On 2 August, 1999, the provision of registry based services, along with 64 Ministry staff, transferred to Datacom Employer Services Ltd. who are contracted to provide the registry services for Commercial Fisheries Services Ltd (CFS). Thanks to these staff, the transition was managed with no disruption of services to fishers.

The services now provided by CFS, on behalf of the Ministry, include quota management activities, permitting, vessel registrations, LFR licensing, collection of levies, deemed values and other fees, and the processing of statutory fishing returns.

For the Fisheries Act 1996 to operate, a new computer system needs to be implemented for quota management. Responding to indications that the Ministry intended to devolve a range of registry based services to the commercial fishing sector, the Seafood Industry Council (SeaFIC) and its subsidiary CFS commenced a project in 1999 to deliver such systems.

Since March 2000 the Ministry has developed a closer relationship with SeaFIC to support the new systems development. In working with industry on this project, the Ministry's interest is to ensure a system is established that will enable the registry requirements of the Fisheries Act 1996 to be met from 1 October 2001.The Ministry remains accountable for government obligations, including ensuring the independence of statutory processes.

Cost Recovery Regime

Cost recovery has been a contentious issue between the Ministry and industry since its introduction to replace the resource rental regime.

During the year a joint working group comprising Ministry, Treasury, industry representatives and Te Ohu Kai Moana prepared recommendations for the Minister which formed the basis for legislative amendments. The amendments, at a high level, should provide efficient, equitable and transparent outcomes. Further, the reforms will provide guidance to ensure that levies are consistent with the purpose and principles of the Fisheries Act 1996, the Government's wider objectives, and the Treasury guidelines for cost recovery.

Recreational Fishing Reform

The Ministry continued working collaboratively with the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council (NZRFC) during the year and together drafted a public consultation document on the future management of marine recreational fishing. The Minister of Fisheries approved this document in June 2000 for submission to Cabinet.

In preparing the document, the joint working group ran workshops at the NZRFC's annual conference, gained feedback from stakeholder groups on the broad nature of the proposals, and worked through issues with other government agencies before submitting the draft public consultation document to the Minister (June 2000).

Aquaculture Reform

In June 2000 work was completed on a public discussion paper on the future management of aquaculture in New Zealand. This discussion paper was developed in collaboration with the Ministry for the Environment and with the support of the Department of Conservation, Treasury and Te Puni Kokiri.

The Ministry's objective is to modernise the management regime for aquaculture in a manner that:

upholds the Crown's Treaty obligations
increases certainty to all participants (including administrators),
appropriately manages the adverse impacts of aquaculture on the environment
appropriately manages the adverse effects of aquaculture on existing fishers
enables maximum benefit to be obtained from use of coastal space
enables better consideration of the impact of aquaculture on customary fishing.

Following public consultation, we expect to report back to Cabinet towards the end of March 2001 with the results of the analysis of submissions, further policy development and a recommended course of action.

Year 2000 Risk Management

The Ministry celebrated the new millennium without any interruptions to business processes or systems. A project team involving representatives across the entire Ministry contributed to successful systems testing and production of comprehensive business continuity plans.

Our diligence was reflected in a State Services Commission rating of 4.8 out of 5 - second to only one other government organisation. This result was achieved during a period of significant work activity including the separation of Registry Services from our organisation and a comprehensive upgrade of the Quota Management System.

Critical to our success was the sustained commitment of managers, staff and contracting organisations throughout the life of the project.

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Updated : 16 November 2007