State of the Environment Report 2007

Environment New Zealand 2007 is the Ministry for the Environment’s latest report on the state of New Zealand’s environment. It takes the pulse of the physical well-being of New Zealand’s land, water, air, plants and animals and measures the impact of transport, energy, waste, and our consumption on the environment.

Read the report (Ministry for the Environment website)

Background information on fisheries issues raised in the report

15% of fish stocks (by weight) are listed as having been over-fished

We are learning more about our fisheries all the time. This makes our assessments of their health and abundance more accurate and allows us to take action if there are sustainability concerns, which is what has happened in the past 10 years.

When the information has suggested there is a sustainability concern we have taken action – cut catches, closed areas, etc.

Through the Quota Management System (QMS), MFish moves quickly when there is a sustainability risk with a stock and we have rebuild strategies in place for fisheries that are over-fished. When the situation warrants it we close the fishery to allow it to recover, but mostly it is a matter of lowering the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) and leaving more fish in the water to breed.

MFish is currently consulting with fisheries stakeholders on a Harvest Strategy Standard that would formalise setting stock health targets, and stock lower limits that trigger management action (TAC cuts, etc).

Comparing the figures is not strictly comparing apples with apples. In 1997 there were 42 fish species and 185 fish stocks in the QMS, whereas in 2007 there are 96 fish species and 619 fish stocks in the Quota Management System. Research has continued in the past 10 years, and we know more about the fish stocks we research, than we did in 1997. We have more information to tell us about the status of our fish stocks. We have a better idea of where problems are occurring, so that we can deal with them.

The stocks that are listed as overfished in 2007

These 13 stocks represent roughly 15% of fish stocks by weight. Source – The Status of our Fisheries (http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/SOF/StockStatus.htm)

Most fisheries are responsive to reduced catches. For instance the southern blue whiting fishery listed below has recovered from 2003 and is now being ‘fished sustainably’.

65% of the catch, by weight, comes from stocks that are scientifically assessed

Assessment of fish stocks is often difficult and expensive (underwater research of wild fish-stocks generally is) meaning that is not cost effective or practical to conduct full assessments on all stocks. So MFish prioritises the assessment of the most valuable and the vulnerable stocks in any given year. In total, around 65% of fish that are landed are from stocks that have been assessed.

The other 35% is spread over 500 stocks. Around 250 of them have landings of less than 10 tonnes a year and are not considered to be causing sustainability concerns. MFish monitors catch trends of these stocks and takes corrective action if something is of concern.

Researching and acting on the environmental effects of fishing

You don’t necessarily need full information on environmental effects before you act. A good example is the Benthic Protection Areas in our Exclusive Economic Zone. In 2007 New Zealand protected 30 percent of EEZ from bottom fishing method. With the BPAs implemented, New Zealand has protected 32 percent of its EEZ. This includes: 

• 28 percent of Underwater Topographic Features (including seamounts) 
• 52 percent of seamounts (underwater mountains over 1000 metres in height) 
• 88 percent of active hydrothermal vents.

This area is equal to 1.2 million square kilometres, or an area four times the landmass of New Zealand. This is the largest single marine protection initiative in a nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) anywhere in the world.

MFish is rapidly increasing its knowledge of deep sea environments affected by trawling with: research funded by the Biodiversity Strategy; research on the seabed of the Chatham Rise and the Challenger Plateau; the International Polar Year research; etc.

MFish is developing environmental performance standards to set and monitor the environmental performance of our fisheries. A Seabird Standard focusing on seabird by-catch is out for consultation with stakeholders until 14 March 2008. It is also consulting on a National Plan of Action for Sharks, with consultation closing 1 February 2008. Further environmental performance standards, such as a Benthic Impact Standard, are being developed to manage a range of environmental effects.

MFish is working with the Department of Conservation on a Marine Protected Areas Strategy that has identified the many different marine ecosystems in NZ waters and work towards protecting an example of each ecosystem.

The effect of fishing on non-Quota Management System species
 
All species that are commercially fished in significant numbers are in the QMS.

All by-catch is required to be recorded by fishers and reported to MFish to measure the catch of QMS and non-QMS species.

When catch of a species increases to a level to give us sustainability concerns we bring it into the QMS. Once in the QMS the stock is monitored more closely and managed to ensure it is fishing sustainably in the long term.