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Home > Status of Fisheries

Status of New Zealand Fisheries

Purpose of this Website

New Zealand’s fisheries and aquatic environment have the potential to provide for the social, cultural, economic and environmental well-being of current and future generations. Careful stewardship that balances utilisation of resources with the need for a healthy functioning aquatic environment is paramount.

Too much fishing has depleted fishstocks in many parts of the world, and many aquatic habitats have been damaged. Populations of some non-commercial species caught accidentally during fishing operations have also been depleted, and some protected species are severely threatened.

Worldwide, fisheries managers face common challenges in their attempts to manage fisheries sustainably. These include conflict over allocation between users, too many fishing vessels (overcapacity), increasing demand for fish and fish products, insufficient monitoring, lack of adequate data to assess the status of most stocks, changing environmental conditions, and, in many fisheries, high levels of non-compliance with the law. Many of these issues are relevant to New Zealand fisheries. The management regime for fisheries in New Zealand is respected worldwide as one of the world's best.

The Ministry's long-term objective is to develop this site so it becomes the authoritative source of information about the state of New Zealand’s fisheries. The information will allow you to:

Learn about the biology and distribution of our marine resources
See the extent of current knowledge about fisheries and the impacts of fishing on the aquatic environment;
Monitor the performance and management of New Zealand fisheries;
See the level of resources allocated to managing fisheries in general and to specific fisheries;
Directly access fisheries databases (subject to appropriate privacy constraints); and
Make more informed decisions as a member of the public about which fish to catch and consume based on information about the sustainability of the resource.

Content of Current Site

The Ministry has taken over responsibility from the Ministry for the Environment for providing environmental performance indicators for fisheries. The current site provides more detailed information for a greater number of species than previously listed on the Ministry for the Environment site.

The site is at an initial stage of development. The content of the site is currently focused primarily on the scientific information for a limited number of species, together with a number of general socio-economic indicators. The site will be updated at least twice each year to coincide with the start of the 1 October and 1 April fishing years. The site does not currently provide a complete description of the state of New Zealand’s fisheries. Only available scientific information is provided in detail and there is currently no description of the management measures and services implemented for each species.

The Ministry is planning to enhance the site in the future to provide the following elements:

Relevant information for all species in the quota management system;
The capability for you to request information from available databases;
Environmental information - including information on impacts of fishing on protected species and the seabed;
Management measures implemented for each species, including existing regulations applicable to each species;
Services undertaken, such as research, observer coverage and compliance activities; and
Further socio-economic information, including sector employment and fishing fleet statistics.

The addition of the various elements outlined above to the site will provide a complete context against which to assess the state of New Zealand’s fisheries. The site will provide an assessment of the sustainability of individual fish species and the impacts of fishing on the aquatic environment.

The Ministry is using the current site as a proof of concept. Feedback is sought about the site, including any ideas that you have about what the site should include in future updates, please send all comments to info@fish.govt.nz. The next update of the site is planned for April 2008.

General Information on New Zealand’s Fisheries

New Zealand’s 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) comprises 4.4million square kilometres of ocean and 15,000 kilometers of coastline. The latitudinal range of the EEZ (25ºS to 55ºS) results in a wide range of oceanic characteristics from subtropical water in the north to sub-Antarctic water in the south. Depth ranges and topographical features are also diverse largely because of the isolation of New Zealand from any major continental masses, and the complex geology in the region. Because of the oceanic location of New Zealand, plankton productivity levels are not particularly high compared with other areas of the world at similar latitudes, such as Chile. It is nevertheless home to an estimated minimum of 8,000 diverse species of aquatic life, of which approximately 130 are targeted commercially.

There are currently 129 species, separated into 97 species groupings that are managed by New Zealand’s Quota Management System (QMS). Approximately 60 species groupings have QMS allowances for customary Maori fishers and there are a similar number for recreational fishers. Balancing utilization with maintaining biodiversity and avoiding environmental damage is the concern and responsibility of all New Zealanders. The government manages this through the Fisheries Act 1996, the rules and regulations and the Quota Management System administered by the Ministry of Fisheries. New Zealand led the world with its property-rights based QMS system when it was introduced in 1986, and indicators of its success are listed below.

The commercial value (i.e. value of quota holdings) of our fisheries is estimated at NZ$3.8bn and has steadily increased since the introduction of the QMS.
Export earnings from the sector totalled NZ$1.25bn in 2007, generated from 315,000 tonnes of catch.
There are currently 97 species groupings in the QMS, divided into 629 fishstocks or geographic Quota Management Areas (QMAs). Of the 629 fishstocks, 280 have TACCs of 10 tonnes or less, leaving approximately 349 significant fishstocks that need to be closely monitored.
Catch levels have been allocated to the commercial sector for species in the QMS and are reviewed regularly as part of the Ministry’s sustainability round.
Both the Ministry and stakeholders are working together to address the environmental effects of fishing.
The efficiency of the New Zealand fishing fleet has grown significantly over the years, with fewer vessels, reduced overcapacity and improved environmental performance.
Approximately NZ$31M (or 33.3%) of the Ministry’s costs are forecast to be cost recovered from Industry in 2007/08. These Industry levies reflect the costs of statutory decision processes administered, registry services, commercial compliance, observer coverage and research purchased by the Crown.

State of Knowledge about Fisheries

The biological information on this site is drawn from the Ministry’s principal science publication (the Fisheries Assessment Plenary Report). The Ministry acknowledges that there are significant gaps in our knowledge about fisheries and the impacts of fishing on the aquatic environment. The reason for that knowledge gap is twofold.

First, the resources allocated to the Ministry limits the amount of research undertaken. The Ministry has a total research budget of about $25m per annum. Research is often difficult to undertake and expensive. Each year research is undertaken for only a small proportion of the 629 individual geographical management units that exist in the quota management system. Research is prioritised, with input from stakeholders, to ensure there is adequate information for the most important fisheries. Considerable research effort goes into collecting data that can be used to assess the status of the most important stocks by volume or value. Of the 85 stocks for which we have sufficient information to characterise stock status, 72 (85%) are at or near target levels. These represent the main commercial stocks. Rebuild strategies are in place for the remaining 13 stocks.

Second, the aquatic environment is a complex system consisting of a vast area and over 8,000 species. Complete information about every aspect of the aquatic environment or even the most important species is never going to exist, no matter the amount of research undertaken or money expended.

The foundation for setting catch limits is less robust for stocks that have insufficient information to conduct stock assessments, but this does not mean that they are poorly managed. The legal framework that governs management of New Zealand’s fisheries expressly recognises the absence of complete information. The Fisheries Act 1996 provides for the best available information to be used to support decision making and a precautionary approach to be taken where information is not complete.

The Ministry’s management of fisheries is founded on these principles. However, that does not mean that mistakes are not made. One of the consequences of limited information is that certain assumptions about the state of some fisheries, based upon the best available information at the time, have been found in hindsight to be incorrect. The result is that some fish stocks have been reduced to levels sufficiently low enough to require them to be closed to fishing to help ensure their sustainability. In response to such outcomes the Ministry is making greater use of risk assessment techniques as part of its management approach; however, such techniques can not eliminate the potential for fish stocks to be reduced to sub-optimal levels and for catch reductions or fishery closures to be required in the future to rebuild fisheries.

Future Challenges

The challenge for the Ministry is to ensure that our fisheries provide for people’s use and enjoyment now and in the future – with limited information. One possible response to the current state of knowledge about the aquatic environment is to prevent fishing until adequate information exists. The difficulty with that approach is that it would seriously constrain fishing for most, if not all, species. In addition, most of the information obtained about fisheries is gained from fishing the resource.

A second approach, which has been adopted by the Ministry, is to allow for the use of fisheries resources while minimising the risks to the sustainability of the aquatic environment associated with fishing. This approach recognises that fishing plays a significant contribution to New Zealand’s recreational and customary fishing sectors and to the economy - both in the form of export returns and Gross Domestic Product.

Important choices for New Zealand about management of its fisheries resources lie ahead. In the multicultural milieu that is New Zealand, there are few shared values about the use of fisheries resources. Widely divergent views, expectations and interests exist in relation to fisheries resources. There is growing demand for the sustainable management and protection of the aquatic environment. Alongside this interest is the benefit of maintaining a major industry based on fisheries, an industry which is the country’s fifth largest export product earner.

There is also growing demand by recreational and customary fisheries for a greater share of the available resource and at times the demand by all sectors exceeds sustainable catch levels. There is also growing competition for allocation of exclusive spatial rights in the aquatic environment. This site will, over time, provide information about these challenges and allow you to participate in future decisions on how to resolve them.

Name	Code
Albacore	ALB
Alfonsino	BYX
Anchovy	ANC
Arrow squid	SQU
Barracouta	BAR
Bigeye tuna	BIG
Black cardinalfish	CDL
Blue cod	BCO
Blue mackerel	EMA
Blue moki	MOK
Blue shark	BWS
Blue warehou	WAR
Bluenose	BNS
Butterfish	BUT
Cockle	COC
Dark ghost shark	GSH
Deepwater King Clam	PZL
Dredge oyster (Foveaux Strait)	OYU
Dredge oyster (Other)	OYS
Elephant fish	ELE
Flatfish	FLA
Freshwater longfin eels	LFE (ANG)
Freshwater shortfin eels	SFE (ANG)
Frostfish	FRO
Garfish	GAR
Gemfish	SKI
Giant spider crab	GSC
Green-lipped mussel	GLM
Grey mullet	GMU
Groper	HPB
Hake	HAK
Hoki	HOK
Horse mussel	HOR
Jack mackerel	JMA
John dory	JDO
Kahawai	KAH
Kina	SUR
King crab	KIC
Kingfish	KIN
Knobbed Whelk	KWH
Large trough shell	MMI
Leatherjacket	LEA
Ling	LIN
Lookdown dory	LDO
Mako shark	MAK
Moonfish	MOO
Orange roughy	ORH
Oreo (black)	OEO (BOE)
Oreo (smooth)	OEO (SSO)
Pacific bluefin tuna	TOR
Packhorse rock lobster	PHC
Paddle crabs	PAD
Pale ghost shark	GSP
Parore	PAR
Paua	PAU
Pilchard	PIL
Pipi	PPI
Porae	POR
Porbeagle shark	POS
Queen scallop	QSC
Ray's bream	RBM
Red cod	RCO
Red crab	CHC
Red gurnard	GUR
Red Rock lobster	CRA
Red snapper	RSN
Ribaldo	RIB
Rig	SPO
Rough skate	RSK
Rubyfish	RBY
Scallop	SCA
Scampi	SCI
School shark	SCH
Sea cucumber	SCC
Sea perch	SPE
Silver warehou	SWA
Skipjack tuna	SKJ
Smooth skate	SSK
Snapper	SNA
Southern blue whiting	SBW
Southern bluefin tuna	STN
Spiny dogfish	SPD
Sprat	SPR
Stargazer	STA
Striped marlin	STM
Swordfish	SWO
Tarakihi	TAR
Toothfish	ATO
Trevally	TRE
Trough shell	MDI
Trumpeter	TRU
Tuatua	TUA
White warehou	WWA
Yellow-eyed mullet	YEM
Yellowfin tuna	YFN