4. Operating intentions

Outcome 1: The health of the aquatic environment is protected

What are we seeking to achieve?

This outcome covers the Fisheries Act 1996 obligations to ensure sustainability (including maintaining stock levels and managing the adverse effects of fishing on the aquatic environment), promoting sustainable fishing in international fisheries, and working with other agencies to address impacts on the environment and fisheries resources not caused by fishing.

What will we do to achieve this?

1. Provide frameworks and incentives to improve environmental performance of fisheries

   This role includes improving legislative and policy frameworks, such the Fisheries Act, and developing new management tools to improve environmental performance. Where practical, we aim to give stakeholders incentives to develop innovative ways to meet the required fisheries environmental standards. Fisheries plans allow tangata whenua and stakeholders to do this. Cost recovery provides incentives for commercial fishers to change fishing practices which have adverse effects on the environment. Beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Ministry promotes policy and governance arrangements to ensure sustainable management of high-seas fisheries and works with international fora to eliminate subsidies that lead to over-capacity.

2. Set standards for environmental performance of fishing

   Fishing can adversely affect the aquatic environment, such as by incidental capture of seabirds or mammals or disturbance of seabed communities. Effective management requires environmental fisheries standards to be set and achieved. Standards should help achieve this outcome by defining the acceptable level of risk to the aquatic environment from fishing impacts, and the acceptable level of impacts of fishing on stocks. In setting standards, we need to consider biological limits, uncertainty in information, society's views on current use (including tangata whenua and stakeholder views) and the needs of future generations. Standards will be consistent with legislation and will be enhanced over time. Standards will be implemented consistent with the precautionary approach. Monitoring and review of performance against standards is also needed so that changes can be made if new information comes to light or if the standard is not having the expected result.

3. Ensure environmental rules are met

   Rules are intended to influence fisher behaviour so standards and higher level outcomes can be achieved. Most rules for fisher behaviour are in the form of regulation. An effective compliance regime achieves a desirable level of compliance; an efficient one achieves that goal at least cost using a combination of incentives and penalties. Since self-control is the cheapest form of enforcement, any compliance regime should aim to obtain the desirable level through voluntary compliance, wherever practical. Education and information may encourage fishers to keep within limits, but penalties (usually fines imposed by the Courts) will always be needed to ensure some standards are met.

4. Contribute to processes that reduce impacts not caused by fishing

   The Ministry works with other agencies - mainly Department of Conservation, Ministry for the Environment, and regional councils - to ensure that action is taken to reduce adverse impacts on the environment that are not caused by fishing, and to reform policy and legal frameworks with the aim of improving the management of such impacts. Sedimentation and pollution can have a direct and detrimental effect on the productivity of fisheries. In addition, there are factors other than fishing that contribute to adverse outcomes, such as declining populations of protected species. We work to ensure that fishing is not severely restricted without also attempting to control other activities that contribute to these adverse outcomes. Information on fisheries resources may also be useful in setting measures to manage non-fishing activities, both domestically and internationally.

How will we demonstrate success?

The primary performance measures for this outcome are:

1. The percentage of stocks in the quota management system that are at or above target level is increasing.
   
   
2. Fishing-related mortality of protected species - including sealions, fur seals, seabirds, and dolphins - is declining or below agreed limits.
   
   
3. A representative range of New Zealand's marine habitats and ecosystems is protected from impacts of fishing by 2020.
   
   
4. All fisheries plans describe how relevant environmental standards will be met and include monitoring programmes to measure achievement.
   
   
5. Conservation and management measures, consistent with any fisheries sustainability standards set by the International Standards Organisation (or, in their absence, consistent with any relevant standards adopted in New Zealand), are adopted within five years (by 2013) by all Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) in which New Zealand is an active participant.