Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2002

Presented to the House of Representatives pursuant to Section 39 of the Public Finance Act, 1989

Contents

• Letter to Minister
• Our Vision
• Chief Executive’s Overview
• Strategic Context 2001/04
• Key Achievements
• Fisheries Research
• Ministry Performance For The Year Ended 30 June 2002
• Statement of Resources
• Terms and Definitions Used
• Legislation Administered by the Ministry of Fisheries at 30 June 2002
• Ministry Directory

Management of Commercial Property Rights

This output covers the management of the fisheries property rights information databases. It should be noted that, following the introduction of the balance of the Fisheries Act 1996 from 1 October 2001, certain services previously performed under contract to the Ministry were fully devolved. For the period from 1 July 2001 to 30 September 2001:

• 1,220 quota trades were processed during the September quarter. There were no identified cases of a quota trade being processed and recorded on the register incorrectly.
• 44 quota trades (3.6%) were processed outside the one-day turn-around time. While this is slightly outside the 3% standard imposed, all were processed within 2 days.
• 4,783 Quota Management Returns were received and entered during the September quarter. Of the 3,021 returns received by the 15th of the month, 14 (0.46%) were not included in the next monthly balance report.

Operation of the above functions was transferred to the Approved Service Delivery Organisation (SeaFIC) from 1 October 2001.

For the period 1 July to 31 December 2001, monthly balance reports were required to be issued to quota holders within 6 weeks of the end of the month to which they pertain. This standard was met in each of the months. No monthly balance requests for review resulted from delivery agency error. From 1 January 2002, this service has been transferred to SeaFIC.

Certain services continue to be performed by the Ministry as part of its operating functions. Each year the Ministry undertakes specific quota allocation processes for stocks which are to be added to the quota management system. There is a prescribed stock allocation policy for each of these stocks.

During the 2001/02 year, for the ten species approved to be introduced into the Quota Management System from 1 October 2002, the Ministry:

• signed off the stock allocation policy for 1 October 2002 and 1 April 2003 allocations;
• completed the validation of these allocations;
• completed the processing of objections to eligible catch;
• allocated catch based on provisional catch history for these species; and
• commenced the Catch History Review appeal period.

Coromandel Scallops were entered into the QMS on 2 April 2001.

A specific function is recovery of debts in accordance with the standards and specifications approved by the Chief Executive. For 2001/02, 69 debts (totalling $815,695) were passed to debt collectors. Forty-seven of these debts were resolved by way of full payment or arrangement.

Devolution of Services

SeaFIC was appointed as ASDO in the first quarter of the 2001/02 financial year and was operational by 1 October 2001.

Phase 2 of the new registry programme was begun during the year and progress is being made to have LFR, High Seas Permits, Special approvals and Mortgages (transitional mortgage registration in place) implemented by 1 October 2002.

Delivery of Registry Services

This output deals with the management of external contracts with delivery agencies and its purpose is to ensure statutory compliance with the terms and conditions of the contracts and that any risk to the Crown is minimised.

The auditing and monitoring programme is complete and has been implemented. Any issues that have arisen as part of the contractual arrangements have been addressed by the relationship managers.

*Includes $34,000 for Education and information services previously shown separtely.

Output Class D5 Enforcement of Fisheries Policies

Description: Services and processes that promote compliance with fisheries laws and lead to detection of those involved in illegal fisheries activities.

Objectives: The objectives of this output class are to:

• Achieve the highest level of voluntary compliance with fisheries laws.
• Deter non-compliance.

Scope: The outputs in the Enforcement output class are:

• Commercial - Monitoring and offence detection in all areas of commercial fishing activity.
• Customary Maori - Compliance activities in relation to people fishing for customary purposes.
• Recreational - Compliance activities of recreational fishers.
• International - Compliance activities relating to NZ fishing vessels operating in international fisheries areas and foreign vessels operating in areas of NZ interest.
• Poaching and blackmarket - Covers all poaching and blackmarket activity.
• Enforcement processes and systems - Training of Ministry staff to deliver on the new processes and systems required by the Fisheries Act 1996.

Fisheries Officers’ Manual

The targets in this output class refer to the operations being conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries Officers’ Manual. In fact the Ministry operates on a series of approved policy statements which are not formally incorporated into a single document. These approved polices form the basis of all fisheries enforcement operations.

Achievements during the year

Commercial

Operational teams undertake on-going monitoring of the full range of commercial activity. Enforcement actions are taken on offences detected.

Serious area misreporting detected in deepwater fisheries resulted in prosecution action. Compliance priority was given to encouraging improvement to the timely furnishing of harvesting returns and the issue of infringement notices for late returns.

Customary Maori

Information and education is provided to iwi and hapu on an on-going basis and forms part of the overall customary fisheries compliance programme.

The main support provided to iwi and hapu is focussed on assisting with the implementation of customary fishing regulations.

Recreational

An infringement notices system was introduced on 1 October 2001. This complements educational initiatives and the development of educational material. Levels of support to the Honorary Fishery Officer network were improved with some reduction of HFO numbers.

International

All New Zealand vessels operating under international agreements are monitored for compliance with conditions of their approvals.

Poaching and blackmarket

Major enforcement operations were conducted in the poaching and blackmarket area. The Ministry’s first undercover operation (Operation Pacman) exposed serious and widespread offending and resulted in a large number of prosecutions. The undercover operation also provided information to assist the assessment of levels of illegal harvest.

Other activities

During the year, the Ministry participated in the establishment of the Maritime Intelligence Co-ordination Centre and contributed to the establishment of a Maritime Co-ordination Centre. The Ministry also supported Ministry of Defence reviews of aerial surveillance capability and the Navy fleet review.

Full implementation of the 1996 Fisheries Act required the retraining of fishery officers during the year.

*Includes $426,000 for Education and information sercices previously shown separately.

Output Class D6 Prosecution of Offences

Description: Services relating to the prosecution of offences detected against fisheries laws. Objectives: The objective of this output class is to prosecute successfully those who have offended against fisheries laws.

Scope: Case management is the sole output within this output class. It covers all activities relating to the management of specific cases including advocacy of internal and external providers. It also includes managing technical support for cases.

Achievements during the year

Management of Prosecutions

All cases were initiated within the statutory timeframes (target 100%). 0.76% of cases presented to the Courts were dismissed due to a lack of prima facie evidence (the target requires that less than 5% are dismissed).

There was a 94.15% success rate for cases prosecuted under the Fisheries Act (the target is a 90% success rate).

There was a 88.5% success rate for cases brought under fisheries regulations (the target is a 60% success rate).