Greenpeace slams Fisheries trawling plan

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Environmental lobby group Greenpeace has labelled a Ministry of Fisheries plan to open access to several species of bottom trawled fish as unjustified, and the ministry as "out of touch" with international markets.

But ministry deputy chief executive Gavin Lockwood said the proposal was based on the best available scientific research and fish stock assessment information.

The ministry is inviting submissions on a proposal to reopen one of three closed orange roughy stocks and to raise the annual hoki and rubyfish catch.

Greenpeace New Zealand Oceans campaigner Karli Thomas said there was no justification to trawl up more of these fish, as international markets were increasingly rejecting seafood that was not caught sustainably.

This week two US distributors - Costco and ABS Seafood - announced they would stop selling orange roughy.

Costco said it would not sell species that were identified as at great risk.

Ms Thomas said the Government should support fisheries based on healthy stocks and sustainable fishing methods with sound research and careful management.

"It's not the Ministry of Fisheries' role to try and salvage market access for fisheries that are driving stocks to collapse, killing endangered species and annihilating marine ecosystems - that's greenwash, not sustainability," she said.

Orange roughy stocks in the Challenger plateau, an area 500km in diameter off the west coast of both the North and South Islands, were closed in 2000, after numbers dropped to unacceptable levels.

Ms Thomas said the area was grossly overfished and the ministry's stock management of the area was a "scandal".

"The indication that stocks have started to rebuild is a miracle of nature, not a testament to good management," she said.

But Mr Lockwood said research showed that the proposed reopening of the Challenger Plateau orange roughy fishery with a conservative catch limit would be sustainable.

"Significant catch reductions are proposed but we will be carefully monitoring the fishery to make sure these reductions will be effective," Mr Lockwood said.

Submissions on the Ministry of Fisheries' proposal close on August 4.

- NZPA