Rock lobster industry commentator Daryl Sykes briefly reviews recent events and future prospects
The current rock lobster season has brought mixed fortunes to local operators, with market prices falling below early season expectations and massive disruption to fishing activities on the east coast of both islands due to persistently unfavourable weather and sea conditions in the latter months of 2024. Fishing was significantly disrupted between East Cape and Cook Strait (CRA 3 and CRA 4) compounding what has been a difficult time for the resident industry personnel since the chaos of Cyclone Gabrielle.
The re-entry of Australian rock lobster into the Chinese market has also impacted on the New Zealand rock lobster industry, with prices paid to fishermen decreasing over the course of the 2024/25 fishing year which will end in March.
Australia was banned from exporting lobster and several other products to China in 2020, soon after then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Australia’s rock lobster exports to China were worth about $700 million a year before Beijing enforced the ban.
However, in late 2024 China told Australia the live rock lobster trade could resume. In just five weeks 1500 tonnes of Australian lobster entered the Chinese market — more than half of New Zealand’s total commercial catch for the year. This came at a critical time with Chinese New Year typically being the busiest sales period for New Zealand exporters.
Since 2019 the New Zealand lobster exporters have seen record high prices, but with Australia now back in the market at scale, they expect supply to stabilise and pricing to return to pre- COVID levels. Exporters are rapidly adapting to the changing conditions while continuing to focus on delivering a high quality and sustainably managed product. Rock lobster is New Zealand’s most valuable seafood export, worth more than $350m annually.
FISHERIES ACT REFORMS PROPOSED
The New Zealand Seafood industry could be about to see the most significant reforms of New Zealand’s fisheries for decades. Minister Shane Jones has launched the consultation on proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act. The proposed reforms are intended to increase the profitability and productivity of the seafood industry by enabling faster and more effective decision making when setting catch limits, while ensuring sustainability of fisheries resources.
The proposed legislative and regulatory changes leverage new data and tools to enhance fisheries management in line with the Government’s goals to lift New Zealand’s productivity and economic growth to increase opportunities and prosperity for all New Zealanders, and to remove regulations that impede the productivity and potential of the seafood sector.
These proposals to improve responsiveness and certainty of decision making build on the fundamentals of the QMS, and would enable more harvest opportunities for commercial, recreational, and customary fishing when fish stocks are abundant, and better ensure sustainability when risks arise. Efficiency gains in administering the Fisheries Act would enable more active management of a greater number of fish stocks.
From a lobster industry perspective the proposed reforms are seen as an opportunity to consolidate the roles and responsibilities of commercial rights holders in respect of the stewardship and utilisation of lobster stocks. Opportunities to further progress towards a functioning co-management role for the sector will be pursued through the reform process.
The Naysayers
On cue came the critics, in particular a wannabe Auckland NGO which commanded mainstream media attention with attacks on the Minister whilst describing his reform proposals as nothing but a wish list of changes hunted by quota owners for over two decades. “It represents a major loosening of controls on commercial fishing and grants wide powers to the Minister to increase commercial catches on a whim”.
It seems that those critics only glanced at headlines and have yet to read the substance of the proposals, because if and when implemented the reforms will not enable their claimed outcomes. Adding further to their growing confirmation that empty vessels make the most noise.
A More Positive Path
Overall the Ministers announcement represents a very substantial set of changes to the Fisheries Act – the biggest package of reforms in 10 years or more. Both the lobster and paua industries are seeking to reinstate reforms lost from the 2022 Fisheries Amendment Bill which explicitly enable and recognise ‘decision rules’, and want improvements to the legal drafting to ensure that statutory sustainability criteria are incorporated to those rules.
The rules, often referred to as management procedures or harvest control rules, can deliver more timely adjustments to Total Allowable Catches (TACs) where full stock assessment results are unavailable or impractical. Decision rules have guided multiple voluntary and statutory commercial catch adjustments in lobster fisheries since 1997 and their use is credited for stock rebuilds in several lobster fishery (CRA) management areas.
Reform would enable the Minister to approve transparent procedures that set out when, how and why catch limits would be adjusted for specific fish stocks for a set period up to five years. Management procedures would be subject to stakeholder consultation prior to approval. Powers to adjust a catch limit within the bounds of the procedure would be delegated to the MPI Chief Executive and would not require further review and consultation with stakeholders.
Industry is also seeking an amendment to validate ACE shelving as a sustainability measure. Shelving is a voluntary and binding industry-generated commercial catch reduction that can be implemented more immediately than, and be a formal alternative to, a statutory TAC/TACC decision process. The aim is to increase certainty that the Minister will take ACE shelving into account as a legitimate management intervention.
The current ACE carry-forward settings are somewhat arbitrary and may be an unnecessary constraint on utilisation if factors that are unrelated to sustainability have prevented fishers from harvesting their ACE in a fishing year – for example catch within a year may be constrained by market barriers, biotoxin closures, or an adverse weather event.
Similarly, if the biological characteristics of the stock are such that the timing of ACE utilisation across two sequential fishing years does not have an adverse effect on stock sustainability.
The case study for the lobster industry is the season most effected by the COVID pandemic. Fishermen could fish, but significant quantities of catch entitlements were unused at the conclusion of that 2020/21 fishing year. There was no provision in law for unused rock lobster ACE to be carried forward to the subsequent fishing year.
There were no associated sustainability issues – ACE was unused because key markets had closed. A one-off legislative amendment was implemented so that only 10% of an individual’s unused rock lobster ACE could be carried forward but industry and Ministry officials were also alert to the potential for future market disruptions or calamitous trade or environmental impacts unrelated to stock abundance and availability. However as is currently the case, the proposed reforms ensure no ACE carry forward would be available in any year that the stock is subject to a TAC/TACC reduction.
Speculation or Facts
The critics of proposed reforms harp on about the Fisheries Act being ‘deconstructed’ to pass power to quota owners while weakening existing environmental protections and the need for Kiwis to have access to fish to feed their families. They express concern that the proposed changes will not benefit the public or the marine environment. A careful reading of the consultation documents will show those claims not to be true – they are both exaggerated and alarmist.
If properly implemented the reforms will expedite sustainability decisions, provide great certainty to industry participants and make all extractive users more accountable for their roles in utilising our fisheries resources.
The current public consultation process is aimed at enacting a Fisheries Reform Bill in the 3rd quarter of 2026 prior to the next general election. You will find the consultation opportunities by scanning this QR code
