THE MINISTRY'S OUTPUTS TO ACHIEVE ITS CONTRIBUTING OUTCOMES

Background

The Ministry is funded to provide a series of outputs to achieve the contributing outcomes of:

• maintaining the integrity of the existing fisheries management and marine biosecurity frameworks
• developing new fisheries management and marine biosecurity frameworks.

These outputs can be broadly characterised under three headings:

• identifying deficiencies in - or the potential for the revision of - existing policies, analysis and the evaluation of available options, and final approval by the Minister or the Chief Executive.

• maintaining and enhancing the regulatory framework to support the approved policy, administering rules, collecting and analysing information, providing advice and enforcing rules.

• the ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of existing policies.

Policy approval

Policy analysis is required to ensure existing frameworks operate appropriately, and to develop new frameworks. The primary contribution of policy to existing frameworks is through monitoring to ensure they are performing as intended.

Where existing frameworks prove inadequate, analysis is required to determine the most appropriate future frameworks.

Current policy development encompasses a number of issues, including:

• developing the Ministry's strategy for managing the environmental effects of fishing
• contributing to the development of an integrated oceans policy
• supporting the aquaculture reform policy development
• reforming the regime for access to commercial fisheries
• reforming the way in which recreational fisheries are managed
• developing and implementing a strategy for New Zealand's involvement in international fisheries
• completing implementation of the Fisheries Deed of Settlement
• supporting the enactment of a new Māori Fisheries Bill.

Policy implementation

Fisheries management and marine biosecurity advice
Developing and implementing standards will be a significant tool in maintaining the integrity of existing fisheries management frameworks.

The Ministry will deliver advice to Government on those standards and the performance achieved against those standards by stock strategies and fisheries plans.

Maintaining the integrity of marine biosecurity frameworks requires a well coordinated and integrated programme of pre-border and border measures to prevent pests entering New Zealand waters. It calls for comprehensive surveillance programmes and diagnostic services to detect and identify new incursions, and assess the threat they pose.

It also involves rapid response capability to eradicate new pests before they establish and spread. The Ministry provides advice to Government on the development and implementation of these frameworks.

Fisheries management services
The Fisheries Intervention Plan will determine the delivery of fisheries management services.

The services delivered by the Ministry will include:

• enforcement services (detection and enforcement of breaches of fisheries laws)
• promoting voluntary compliance with fisheries laws
• monitoring research services (stock assessment, environmental research and biosecurity)
• monitoring the delivery of registry services by external providers under contract to the Ministry
• providing observer services.

Stakeholders will undertake the delivery of services for fisheries plans, in accordance with standards determined by the Minister of Fisheries.

Policy monitoring

The Ministry will monitor the outcome of its management frameworks by means of indicators. Fisheries indicators provide a general idea of the performance of the fisheries sector and, by inference, how well existing frameworks contribute to the overall outcome of maximising value. The use of appropriate indicators will provide a more precise means of assessing the contribution of management frameworks to achieving the fishery outcome, and will allow this contribution to be tracked over time.

In the introduction to this Statement of Intent, the Ministry listed three strategies as the means of achieving the fishery outcome:

• Protect the health of the aquatic environment.
• Enable people to get the best value from the sustainable and efficient use of fisheries.
• Ensure the Crown delivers on its obligations to Māori with respect to fisheries.
• A list of proposed indicators under each of these strategies is set out on the following page.

MEASURING PROGRESS

Protecting the health of the aquatic environment

Current information suggests good progress is being achieved in protecting the health of the aquatic environment:

• eighteen marine reserves have been established
• nineteen seamounts have been closed to trawling (the total area closed is about 100,000 sq km)
• two ma-taitai have been established at Ra-paki (Lyttelton Harbour) and Koukourarata (Banks Peninsula)
• marine parks have been established for the Hauraki Gulf, Sugar Loaf Islands, Mimiwhangata (Northland), and Tawharanui (Auckland)
• the Guardians of Fiordland have developed an integrated management strategy for Fiordland's fisheries and marine environment
• a limit on fishing-related mortality for sealions is reviewed annually
• a prohibition on set netting on the west coast of the North Island has been established to protect Maui dolphins
• the level of seabird bycatch in the joint venture and foreign-licensed tuna longline fleet has reduced from an estimated 891 birds in 1992/93 to 40 birds in 1999/2000 (35% of which were released alive)
• the number of QMS stocks with stock assessment models has increased from 26 to 40 in the period between 1997/98 and 2000/01 (Ministry for the Environment (MfE) Marine Indicators)
• of the 40 stocks with stock assessment models, 65% are above target levels and all stocks below the target level have a rebuild strategy in place (MfE Marine Indicators).

However, more indicators are needed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the fisheries sector.

Enabling best value from sustainable and efficient use of fisheries resources

There are a number of facts that suggest New Zealanders are able to utilise fisheries resources in a way that yields considerable value:

• marine products are New Zealand's fourth most valuable export - the value increased from approximately $650 million in 1986 to $1.5 billion in 2001, and is presently at $1.2 billion
• more than 10,000 direct and 16,000 indirect full-time equivalents are employed in the seafood industry
• in contrast to fishing industries worldwide, which are subsidised by US$14.0- US$20.5 billion per annum, the New Zealand fishing industry does not receive any subsidies
• by 1 October 2004 some 50 additional species will have been introduced into the QMS since 2001. In terms of the Fisheries Deed of Settlement, Māori
• receive 20% of this additional quota
• between 1984 and 1995, there was an estimated 12% increase in the competitiveness of the commercial fishing sector
• an increasing number of Māori are utilising fisheries resources within the new customary fishing regulations
• recreational fishing is very popular, with surveys showing at least 500,000 people participate in this pastime annually
• there is a significant recreational charter fishing vessel industry.

Fisheries Deed of Settlement

A number of factors have hampered the implementation of the Crown's obligations to Māori. The Ministry is implementing the Fisheries Deed of Settlement to address this. However, a number of initiatives have taken place:

• two ma-taitai reserves have been established at Ra-paki (Lyttelton Harbour) and Koukourarata (Banks Peninsula) with a further four ma-taitai applications in progress
• seven taiapure/local fisheries have been established
• more than 190 kaitiaki have been appointed (with another 58 notifications in progress)
• five temporary closures have been implemented to recognise and provide for the use and management practices of tangata whenua.

Marine biosecurity

The indicators shown below are risk tolerances developed to measure performance against the values attributed to the marine environment. These indicators will be refined to allow the effectiveness of marine biosecurity frameworks to be measured over time.

Healthy environment:

• levels of biodiversity
• entry or spread of organisms that threaten indigenous flora and fauna.
• Strong communities:
• recognition of Treaty obligations
• stakeholder awareness and participation.
• Vibrant commerce:
• protection of marine-based commercial activities from unwanted organisms
• impact of biosecurity controls on shipping services.