Sharing our fisheries

Deciding how to share New Zealand's fisheries between the commercial and non-commercial sectors is something the government is grappling with, as it tries to ensure New Zealand gets the most value out of its fisheries.

But where does that best value lie - with the non-commercial fisher or the commercial sector? The issue causes fierce debate, particularly in our snapper, blue cod, kingfish, kahawai, and rock lobster fisheries. These species are especially valued by recreational fishers.

The commercial sector sells fish to make money. Here, the value of fish is easily measured in export dollars and domestic sales.

However, non-commercial fishers value fisheries for a wider range of reasons. These include putting food on the table, the fun of fishing, and enjoying the outdoors. So measuring the value of fish to this sector is not so easy.

We know that both the commercial and non-commercial sectors contribute to the New Zealand economy.

Commercial fishing creates jobs in catching, fish processing and marketing, as well as in marine engineering and fishing equipment industries.

We also know that many weekend and holiday communities in coastal areas depend on "good fishing" to draw visitors. These visitors create jobs in the retail, service, and entertainment industries. Added to this are the jobs created from more general spending on fishing and diving gear, bait, boats, and fuel.

In shared fisheries, we need to know how much fish each sector is taking. While we have a good record of commercial catch, we know less about what recreational and customary fishers take each year.

This information is very important when we make decisions about how to share our fisheries.

The Ministry of Fisheries has commissioned a series of surveys that will tell us more about recreational fish catches in popular fishing areas - Northland, Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Plenty, and Tasman/Marlborough.

This will help us to manage shared fisheries in these areas.

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Updated : 16 November 2007

Staying within the rules

Honorary fishery officers play a vital role in protecting our fisheries. They give up their time to patrol the beaches, checking to make sure everyone knows, and follows, fishing regulations. It can be a tiring job, but Auckland District Compliance Manager Matt Cowan says his 50 or so volunteers are motivated by a sincere love of the coastline.

"Many of them are older, and they do this on their own time because they want to help out." He says having these officers patrolling a beach can change it from a situation where many people are breaking the rules, to one where everyone is obeying them. This makes a huge difference on heavily populated beaches where there may be hundreds of people gathering shellfish.

"If everyone follows the rules, then there is enough for everyone. So it is really helpful to have an extra 50 sets of eyes and ears on the lookout."

Mr Cowan says that education is a priority for honorary fishery officers, because often people are not aware of the rules, and the reasons they have been put in place.