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Tasman
quota cut mooted| Growth has lead to conflict
| Fishing decline causes concern
Industry rationalises | BOP
snapper stock "very low" | "Drastic"
reduction needed
Locals still fish out of Island Bay
| Size limit row | Warning
on overfishing
Tasman
quota cut mooted
A recommendation
that the Tasman Bay snapper quota be cut from 1000 tonnes
to 600 tonnes has been put to the Minister of Fisheries.
And
in a further move, designed to protect two and three year
old snapper, it has been suggested that nursery areas in shallow
coastal waters of the bay be closed to fishing.
These
moves come from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
and the Fishing Industry Board following a series of meetings
with fishermen in the Nelson area.
The conservation
recommendations follow a warning from fisheries scientists
that continued exploitation of Tasman Bay's two and three
year old snapper risks dangerously lowering spawning stock.
"The
Tasman Bay snapper fishery should be managed on the principle
of maximising the yield per recruit," say scientists Jim Mace
(Nelson) and Kevin Sullivan (Wellington).
"This
would provide the greatest sustained returns, maintain enough
spawning fish and provide amateurs with a reasonable chance
of catching snapper," they state in a joint report.
"The
present fishing pattern, where snapper are heavily exploited
from an early age and the accumulated stock of older fish
is being depleted, risks reducing total spawning stock so
much that recruitment is affected.
"Exploitation
at age two and three, as occurs at present, is obviously resulting
in less than maximum yield and risks dangerously lowering
the spawning stocks," the scientists warn.
"We consider
it necessary to protect the younger snapper for maximum future
yield."
"The
accumulated stock of old snapper should be fished gradually
while the benefits of this protection develop - this will
ensure that enough spawning fish remain and provide stability
of catch and income for the industry."
In their
report, Messrs Mace and Sullivan say the large snapper catches
in Tasman Bay in the past years followed the introduction
of more efficient single trawling, pair trawling and purse
seining.
"The
large catches by these methods in the past three years have
only been achieved by fishing down the stock accumulated over
many years."
"These
large catches, therefore, cannot be expected to last indefinitely."
Stating
that short-term gains at the expense of the future of the
Tasman Bay fishery are not acceptable, the scientists listed
the following methods of conservation that could be considered:
 |
Controls
of fishing to obtain the maximum long-term yield. |
|
Closure
of snapper nursery areas. |
|
Increasing
the mesh size of nets. |
|
Reintroduction
of a minimum size limit. |
|
Protection
of younger spawning fish. |
|
Maintenance
of spawning stock through quotas or banning some fishing
methods. |
Source:
Commercial Fishing, October 1980.
Growth
has lead to conflict
by Dr
Robin Allen, Assistant Director, FRD, Wellington
The growth
of the fishing industry in New Zealand waters since the removal
of restrictive licensing in 1963 has led to conflicts over
who should have access to particular resources. The conflict
exists at all levels in local fisheries where fishermen who
use small open boats, often within a few miles of their homes,
are threatened by trawlers which might be based a considerable
distance away.
Some
fishermen based at particular ports feel that they should
have some rights to exclusive access to an area around their
port to avoid competition with fishermen from other ports.
Medium-sized
trawlers, who must make their living from the prime inshore
species such as snapper and tarakihi, are concerned that larger
trawlers which have been purchased to fish in deeper waters
are also attracted to the prime inshore species. In other
cases, larger New Zealand vessels are faced with competition
from foreign licensed vessels, chartered, and soon very large
New Zealand vessels, when exploiting species such as hake,
hoki, orange roughy and skipjack.
Because
fisheries are still common property resources, these conflicts,
and the underlying over-capitalisation of some parts of the
industry, cannot be solved either economically or amicably
without some management from Government.
Fisheries
management practices
Throughout the world, there is
a rich history of fisheries management attempts to cope with
the problem of too much fishing effort, declining stock, and
industry difficulties. The most common approaches have been
to restrict the efficiency of fishermen by forbidding certain
methods or fishing gear, to restrict effort by using closed
seasons or limiting entry, imposing a total quota.
It is
now widely recognised that these methods often fail to reduce
fishing effort, and always unnecessarily increase the cost
of fishing. For example, when closed seasons are used to restrict
effort in an economically attractive fishery, the result is
usually over-capitalisation as more effort is applied in shorter
time periods. Thus effort is not controlled, and the over-capitalisation
results in higher costs.
In the
last 25 years, increasing attention has been given to the
idea that the major purposes of fisheries management are social
and economic and that fisheries resources should be managed
to provide the maximum benefit to the community as a whole,
including the fishing industry, consumers, and recreational
users.
Future
management to obtain the optimum use of fisheries is likely
to entail a move from using them as a common property resource,
to some form of ownership and control, analogous to the change
from common property use to individual ownership which occurred
long ago in most land use. While fish remain wild and migratory,
the type of ownership is not likely to be similar to that
of land ownership.
Indeed
the ownership pattern for land which has led to massive environmental
changes and severely restricts non-owners of land, would not
be generally acceptable for the marine environment in today's
society.
The type
of ownership that might be acceptable is ownership of rights
to harvest a portion of the available resources.
Source:
Catch, June 1983.
Fishing
decline causes concern
"It is
a tragedy for our industry that some fisheries have declined
to such an extent that many of those involved will have to
leave," the Chairman of the NZ Fishing Industry Board, Mr
Mark Hinchliff, told the last major fisheries conference of
the year recently.
Speaking
at the annual gathering of the NZ Seafood Processors' and
Exporters' Association, Mr Hinchliff described the general
acceptance of most within the fishing industry that there
was serious depletion of the inshore resource.
He said
the reduction in fishing effort that must take place would
affect owner-operator fishermen and boat owning companies
- but everyone in the fishing industry had to share the responsibility
for the decline in fish stocks.
The
industry had to work "hard and rapidly to restore fishing
effort to a rational and stable level."
"The
key aspect to bear in mind is that for most inshore fisheries
management measures will not provide a solution in the first
instance. The options which can be applied to manage a fishery
are well known to scientists and economists, and are becoming
more and more familiar to you. Fisheries management is the
second stage and can only be effective after we have dealt
with the first stage - substantially reduced pressure on the
resource."
Mr Hinchliff
said the quota system that was promising success in the deep
water fishery could be applied in the inshore. It is to be
used soon on barracouta.
"The
problem is that quotas are useless unless the quota of the
individual holder is large enough to provide a reasonable
profit. Similarly it is useless restricting the catch by mesh
size, area or seasons, because those restrictions will simply
increase the pressure on other species and other areas."
He said
the FIB and other industry groups were striving for a system
acceptable both politically and to the industry and which
allowed those who had to leave to do so with dignity.
Source:
Catch, September 1983.
Industry
rationalises
Dwindling
catches in combination with a continual increase in operating
costs has forced a rationalisation within Taranaki's ailing
fishing industry.
Dramatic
movements in the price of fuel and overheads and drastically
reduced catches during the last few seasons have left many
participants in the industry on the brink of financial ruin.
Fresha
Fisheries, one of the three packaging houses in New Plymouth
succumbed to these pressures 12 months ago and its operator,
Loui Kuthy, went into receivership.
Group
Fish Distributors Ltd was forced into similar circumstances
in August this year. This has left Taranaki Fish Distributors,
a family concern, as the only fish packaging house still viable.
Loui
Kuthy has been involved in the local fishing scene for 22
years. He placed his business in the hands of a receiver after
spending months battling to keep his interest afloat.
He continues
to operate largely at the whim of his guarantor.
The accountant
attempting to salvage Group Fish, Charles Worsely, is optimistic
about the company's ability to trade its way out of difficulty
during the coming season.
Group
has survived the winter lull and its fortunes were boosted
by bumper catches last month.
However,
the company will have to wait until the end of the season
before a full assessment of its trading prospects can be made.
Aiwin
Burr, the accountant handling the affairs of Fresha Fisheries,
said recently the future for the packaging house also looked
hopeful.
"The
factory won't be closing. The company's operations have been
rationalised," he said. There is now a greater degree of interaction
between the two fish houses in receivership.
"The
strength of Fresha is in the ability of Loui Kuthy as a fisherman,"
said Mr Burr. "Packaging and marketing were the weaknesses
of the company and large scale processing has now ceased."
Fresha
supplies much of its catch to Group to process; the company's
energies are now concentrated almost solely on fishing.
The lack
of throughput has been the main factor hampering operations
at the two processing houses. The reasons for the diminishing
fish returns is a matter of speculation by those within the
industry.
The fishermen
themselves believe foreign vessels are depleting stock and
blame the Government for fixing quotas they consider are exhausting
fishing grounds.
However,
Mr Kuthy does not agree that foreign activity is responsible
for depleted catches for the Taranaki fishermen. He blames
the situation on seasonal fluctuation and overfishing by domestic
boats.
"In
the days of the three-mile limit I competed with Japanese
fishermen and my returns were good," he said recently. "There
is not much competition from foreign vessels on the west coast
of the North Island and so if stocks are being depleted the
local fishermen are to blame."
Other
factors responsible for the slump in fortunes of the local
fishing industry are beyond the control of the fishermen.
Weather
is a dominant force, dictating when boats can leave Port Taranaki
and the notoriously unpredictable conditions on the west coast
mean boats can remain idle at New Plymouth for weeks on end.
And fishermen
in the province have no alternative means to supplement their
incomes says Milan Sisarich, who has been involved in the
industry for 37 years.
"At other
centres fishermen can pick fruit to do other odd jobs to tide
them through the slack periods. In Taranaki they have nothing,"
he said.
The boats
that do put to sea face lean pickings. Catches during the
last five years have become progressively smaller and many
fishermen are faced with the prospect of returning home with
a fuel bill exceeding the catch return.
Source:
Commercial Fishing, February 1981.
BOP
snapper stock "very low"
by Chris Francis and Gavin James, FRD,
Wellington
The snapper
stock in the Bay of Plenty is "very low", according to FRD
reseachers who recently spent 15 days in the area in the most
intensive survey of the species to be undertaken there. Results
seem to indicate that only about 3900 tonnes of snapper are
in the BPO.
If it
is accepted that the present Bay of Plenty snapper resource
is only about 4000 tonnes, then it is clear that there will
need to be a substantial drop in catches to avoid driving
the resource even lower. While the stock remains at low levels,
the risk of poor spawning increases and although there is
no evidence to show this has happened, it would be unwise
to allow the snapper resource to remain at its currently low
level for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
Over
the next few months, we intend to refine these estimates of
snapper resource size and calculate the level of harvesting
which would allow the stock to rebuild to optimum levels.
Source:
Catch, April 1983
"Drastic"
reduction needed
by Bob Elliott
RISING
costs, plus too many boats chasing too few fish, have brought
the inshore fishery to the point where there has to be a drastic
reduction in boat numbers.
This
is the view of the Fishing Industry Board which is giving
highest priority to ways and means of reducing the inshore
fishery effort.
Aboard
discussion paper from which proposals are being formulated
is believed to recommend a cut of 35 to 40 percent in an effort
to put the inshore fishery back on an economic footing.
Source:
Commercial Fishing, Apri11983
Locals
still fish out of Island Bay
by Karen Dabrowska
WELLINGTON'S
two leading Italian fishing families - the Dellabarcas and
the Cataldos - are fighting a never-ending battle with the
wind in Cook Strait, rising fuel, maintenance and equipment
costs and falling fish numbers.
"Twenty
years ago, one boat caught 3600 groper a month - today 20
boats wouldn't even get 50 fish and competition with joint
venture boats has made things harder," said Jonny Cataldo,
who, like Tony Dellabarca, has been around for more than 30
years. Before the Second World War, Island Bay was a small
Italian fishing village isolated from the city by farmland.
The Italians purchased or leased shops at the end of the train
terminus and sold fish, pasta or culinary aids to the locals.
Island
Bay was the main fish supplier for greater Wellington with
about 50 boats. Today the fleet has about 12 boats.
"Before
you relied on your senses," Mr Cataldo said, "You heard the
fog horn warning you about a hidden steamer and you breathed
a sigh of relief when it went past. Now radar has replaced
the horns and it's a lot harder for a skipper to make a mistake."
But now
the fishermen born in Italy are dying and their sons are not
encouraging their children to follow in their footsteps.
During
the past 18 years Gilbert Bolt has left the fishing industry
a few times - but he always comes back.
He is
convinced that strict controls will have to be introduced
to make crayfishing worthwhile for those who keep on fishing.
"Restricting
licensing was not the answer because those with licences are
doubling their pots- once they put out 60 pots, now they are
putting out between 150 and 200."
Source:
Commercial Fishing, February 1983
Size
limit row
LONGSTANDING
bitterness between commercial and amateur fishermen over fish
size limits erupted in Northland last month.
The
bitterness turned into a full scale row when a commercial
fisherman claimed that amateurs were taking undersized snapper
by the "bucketful".
He took
a 14 cm snapper into the Whangarei newspaper, the Northern
Advocate, claiming that it was one of a bucketful caught by
an amateur the previous day. (The legal limit for amateurs
is 25 cm.)
The size
limits on most species of fish were lifted for commercial
trawling about four years ago.
The Ministry
of Agriculture's supervising fisheries officer, Mr Don Young,
said there had been no prosecutions for taking undersized
fish for a "number of years". But he said his officers would
act on any complaints received.
The accusations
caused a series of letters to the paper from amateurs calling
for a fish size limit to apply to all commercial fishermen.
Warning
on overfishing
THERE
is strong evidence that New Zealand is in danger of overfishing
its 200-mile zone, according to an American expert on resource
management.
Professor
T.L. Vincent, a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering
at the University of Arizona, was one of the organisers of
a workshop in Christchurch of 35 experts in renewable resource
management from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
The extension
of the New Zealand fishing zone was not matched by a proportional
increase in the staff needed to manage the larger area, Professor
Vincent said.
"The
extension immediately created a major problem of management
which requires a large interdisciplinary team involving biologists,
economists, engineers and mathematicians," he said.
Nine
major fishing areas in the world had 'crashed' in recent years
due mainly to poor resource management. "A real danger exists
in this country, for example, of one species of fish being
wiped out in a similar manner by overfishing unless adequate
management resources are applied."
The harvesting
of fish resources had effects on the total biological pattern
of sea life and this required close cooperation between Australia,
New Zealand and the United States, which all faced similar
problems.
"The
problem with widespread fishing is that systems do not recover
in a short time when they are fished by large fleets."
"Fish
can be taken out at a high rate until one day you wake up
and find they are all gone," Professor Vincent said.
Source:
Commercial Fishing, March 1980.
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