Dr Randall Bess has published several articles on New Zealand’s fisheries, including the commercial
fishing sector, the settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims and conflicts between the commercial and
non-commercial fishing sectors. He also worked for the Ministry for Primary Industries and the former
Ministry of Fisheries for 13 years. Afterwards, he researched fisheries issues at the US-based Environmental
Defense Fund, the Wellington-based think tank, The New Zealand Initiative, and the New Zealand
office of The Nature Conservancy. During this time, he formulated the policy basis for developing
an organisation to represent recreational fishers’ interests, which then became Fish Mainland Recreational
Fishing South Island NZ – Fish Mainland.
Before immigrating to New Zealand, he fished commercially and recreationally in Alaska.
