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In
order to conserve our fishery resources we need a comprehensive
fisheries management system. The Ministry of Fisheries (MFish)
is responsible for ensuring access and allocation of the resource
is handled fairly, under a system based on scientific research.
Geographers can play an important role in the planning and
decision making which affects our fisheries.
Objectives
Students
will learn: |
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New
Zealand's fishery resources need conserving and managing
for fish to be available for future generations. |
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The
Quota Management System is the main method used to manage
fishery resources. |
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MFish
has a role in science-based conservation of harvested
stocks, in access/allocation and in ensuring compliance
with fisheries law. |
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Geographers
can play a role in planning and decision making which
affects fisheries. |
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Identify
a range of marine biodiversity and biosecurity issues
and looks at how human activity can affect biodiversity
and biosecurity. |
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| The
material in this kit allows students to: |
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Study
of the role of geography in planning and decision making,
as illustrated by a local or regional example from New
Zealand. |
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Practise
their skills and apply their ideas and understandings
to past and contemporary fishery problems. |
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Work
on a case study on the use of renewable resources. |
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Important
ideas
The
following important geographic ideas are developed throughout
the kit: |
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Location,
distance and accessibility |
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Patterns,
processes and regions |
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Interaction
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Change
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Systems |
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Culture
and perception |
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Decision
making
You will be required to use problem solving and decision-making
skills in the activities provided on this site. Arriving at
the right or best decision is often difficult, but identifying
the features common to decisions makes the process easier.
Following
are a few tips to help you along:
First,
to make a decision, information about the problem is needed.
Once the decision has been made a new problem may be created
and the process must begin again.
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| The
basic steps of decision-making are: |
| 1 |
Identify
information about the problem. |
| 2 |
Analyse
the problem. |
| 3 |
Collect
and evaluate the information, and define alternative solutions.
(These solutions may create new problems!) |
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So then the problem must be analyzed. When the nature of the
problem is resolved, alternatives can be defined, information
collected and evaluated and a decision acted upon. This can
be represented by an expanded decision loop.
Finding
the best solution depends on what information is available,
and how it is interpreted. The same raw data can be interpreted
differently depending the decision makers values (eg. personal
likes and dislikes, social attitudes, organisational or company
objectives etc.) and incentives.
For
example, when making decisions about the harvesting of fish
stocks there is always uncertainty. It is impossible to scientifically
measure fish stocks or predict their population dynamics with
100 percent accuracy.
On
to Activity Descriptions on Page 2
The
economics section is based on material originally prepared
by Phil Stewart and Mary Morel and subsequently updated.
Unless otherwise stated all photographs
in the geography section are provided courtesy of NIWA.
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