5. Managing in a changeable environment

Outcome 1: Protecting the environment

Risks to achieving protection of the environment relate to:

• overfishing of target stocks
   
  
• adverse impacts of fishing on the ecosystem.

These risks arise primarily from:

• insufficient or inaccurate information on catch and the impact of fishing on stocks and the environment
   
  
• uncertainty in estimates of stock abundance
   
  
• non-compliance, in particular uncertainty about the level of non-compliance with particular rules.

Environmental risks are managed through a series of activities and services:

• research planning processes to identify required projects and priorities for each year
   
  
• fish stock assessment working groups that evaluate research and catch information
   
  
• information reported by commercial fishers in their statutory catch returns
   
  
• information gathered by the Ministry’s Compliance and Observer staff
   
  
• advice to the Minister of Fisheries on sustainability measures, which must take into account the trade off between quality/cost of information and confidence about sustainable catch limits
   
  
• advice to government in policy and legal reforms to improve environmental outcomes.