Fishing bill 'colludes' with industry

Fairfax

FISHY: The non-commercial fishing lobby has criticised the Fisheries Act Amendment Bill as undermining sustainable fishing.

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Fast-tracked legislation to fend off law suits from fishing companies unhappy with reduced catch limits is being criticised for giving the fisheries minister too much power.

The non-commercial fishing lobby, made up of representatives of big game fishing, customary fishing and recreational fishing, have criticised the Fisheries Act Amendment Bill for being a "collusion" with commercial fishing, too hasty and undermining sustainable fishing.

Legal challenges to Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton's decisions on setting catch limits for commercial fishing have focused on the lack of information on fish stocks.

But a law change to make catch-limit decisions on limited information legally robust has been slammed by those who might have been expected to support it.

Customary fisheries advocate Paul Haddon, from the Hokianga Accord, said Mr Anderton was convinced the amendment bill was a good thing, but the changes would do more harm than good and were simply a "quick fix".

The amendment encouraged the minister to push for "maximum sustainable yield" and over-rode any consideration for employing conservative measures.

But Mr Anderton said the opposition missed the point of the new law.

"Certain fish stocks are in trouble but because there isn't enough scientific evidence available, I can't lower the quota. Getting it would be hard and prohibitively expensive in some cases. In the case of orange roughy, it might not be possible to get the required information until the species was gone."

The law would allow the minister to set the catch limits with any level of information, but Mr Haddon said it put emphasis on maximising the commercial fishing take, not looking after the fish stock.

"Without the right information [the law requires] he must go for maximum sustainable yield and that is totally biased to the commercial side," Mr Haddon said.

Mr Haddon, pushing for the bill to go before Parliament this week, once the select committee had finished with it, urged that it was promoting the "precautionary approach" of setting catch limits conservatively.

The urgency was required to enable potential catch-limit cuts for the fishing season starting on October 1, which looked to be necessary for bluenose fisheries. But Mr Anderton said a recent legal decision meant limited data on bluenose stock levels made such a cut illegal.

"There are a range of other valid internationally accepted stock assessment approaches that can be used ... The bill allows those approaches to be used [to legally justify catch reductions]."

Mr Anderton said there was no time for full consultation with stakeholders, but the bill had been drawn up conjointly by commercial fishing representatives and the ministry. "The select committee has allowed for all groups to have their say."

Mr Haddon disagreed, saying the haste was unnecessary because the fisheries most in need of protection, orange roughy and bluenose, could be protected with interim measures.

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