I am told that my last effort in this fine publication brought tears to the eyes of some readers. Although it is not clear to me whether they were tears of sorrow, sympathy or frustration so I feel compelled to brighten things up a bit in this edition. A bit …
Our Fishing Industry
Living by the Bay makes for a good life and in some respects is all that much better in my retirement. As much as I enjoy being in or on the ocean and sharing the buzz of a good fishing day I now also value the time to think and reflect and to read. I can spend hours engrossed in a book or my online reading of items of interest, and in the spirit of inherently being a grumpy old man (to be fair I was a grumpy young one) I can easily find stuff with which I can argue and criticise. Current bugbears are the loss of prime productive farm land in favour of more pine forests owned mainly by foreign investors and the seemingly never ending attacks on our inshore fishing industry.
I say ‘our’ fishing industry deliberately because it is one which is directly and indirectly of service to all New Zealanders. Firstly as a source of very nutritious, delicious and sustainable food, secondly as a generator for our national economy by way of domestic and export market consumer spending. Chuck in regional employment at sea and from local networks of fuel and engineering support services; children and families in regional community schools and service clubs; and voluntary services to maritime search and rescue, and I believe ‘our’ industry is deserving of more positive recognition than it often gets.
And yes, I totally agree that it has its share of ratbags and probably still doesn’t act quickly enough to get rid of them; but when you take a helicopter view of the changes forced on inshore fishing operators even in the past decade you got to have some sympathy for the sector. Fleet numbers have been decimated. Those inshore operators who remain are shackled with increasing costs of digital reporting, video surveillance and vessel operating standards. Even the low value fisheries – for example tuna trolling – are saddled with mandatory cost recovery levies and charges that can exceed the price per tonne value of the landed catch. The dolphin protection industry has flourished whilst the fishing industry has been forced to retrench.
‘Our’ fishing industry pays cost recovery levies for the research, management and compliance that is of benefit to all fisheries resource users and to the community at large. Its critics pay nothing. The news media generally have nothing positive to say but manage to periodically drum up some new outrage against commercial fishing.
Which is why I think that the recreational fishing industry is next in line for prohibitions, restrictions and cost recovery akin to that already imposed on ‘our’ fishing industry. There is little fat left to cut from the commercial sector but the recreational fleet is significantly larger in number and greater in coastal coverage, effectively untaxed, free of anything other than fisheries regulations, otherwise unregulated and pretty much unaccountable for individual and collective performance in terms of impacts on fish stocks, animal welfare issues and the like.
One group purporting to be representative of the recreational fishing industry seems these days to be more inclined towards marine conservation rather than utilisation outcomes and regularly takes the lash to ‘our’ fishing industry – witness the relentless assault on trawling and dredging for example, notwithstanding a greater than 100 year history for those methods in New Zealand waters.
Us reccies need to be alert to the likelihood of further regulation of our vessels, fisheries licensing for selected species and/or areas, and management by customary interests to whom authority will be devolved under special legislation for the Hauraki Gulf (check out Ahu Moana provisions), customary fisheries regulations (e.g. mataitai) or the currently contentious Marine and Coastal Area legislation. The greenies and the do-gooders are coming our way so take heed of the fate of ‘our’ fishing industry and do your best not to give our critics the ammunition to justify their attacks on our recreation and food gathering opportunities.
