This week, we've handed the pen to Storm Stanley, Chair of the Pāua Industry Council. He shares why the Fisheries reform is important for pāua as well as the future of all Aotearoa New Zealand fisheries.
Everyone loves a feed of pāua, and we're fortunate that Aotearoa's pāua fisheries are among the largest and best managed wild abalone fisheries in the world.
The pāua industry, iwi, and recreational fishing groups have worked hard alongside government to ensure our pāua fisheries are healthy and sustainable, but we shouldn't be complacent as there's still a lot more we could be doing. The proposed changes to the Fisheries Act are essential to help take pāua fisheries to the next level of sustainability and world-leading management.
For pāua, a critical part of the proposed reforms is the recognition of management procedures (i.e., rules that prescribe catch limit adjustments). It's a mystery to me why this has been so controversial in these reforms. Internationally, management procedures have long been recognised as best practice - in fact, a fishery can't be certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council unless management procedures are used. Many people don't realise that management procedures have informed the successful management of pāua fisheries for several years. This enables fisheries managers to make the best use of the available information and ensure pāua catch limits are adjusted in a predictable and responsive way - for example, if monitoring indicates it is harder to harvest pāua or the size profile of a pāua population changes, the management procedure will signal the catch limit reduction that is required. What's not to like about this?
The problem is that, up until now, the use of management procedures has been informal - the Minister can't publicly consult on or formally approve management procedures under the Act. That will change with the proposed amendments. I strongly disagree with those claiming consultation will be removed - actually, it will be enhanced. Under the proposed amendments, everyone will be consulted on what the management targets of the fishery should be and how the catch limits should be adjusted over the next five years. This is a far more inclusive, transparent and strategic way of managing fisheries than the current consultation which focuses only on annual changes to catch limits.
Another aspect of the reforms that will improve pāua management is the recognition of non-regulatory sustainability measures when the Minister makes sustainability decisions. All pāua fisheries are managed under Ministerially-approved fisheries plans developed by regional industry groups (PāuaMACs) in consultation with iwi and local communities. The fisheries plans set out non-regulatory measures to manage commercial harvesting, such as ACE shelving, catch spreading and variable minimum harvest sizes. These measures, which are implemented voluntarily by pāua harvesters and quota owners, demonstrably boost pāua abundance. For instance, ACE shelving leaves an agreed proportion of commercial catch in the water, catch spreading helps to avoid localised depletion and increasing the minimum harvest size allows pāua to spawn more times. By enhancing pāua abundance, non-regulatory measures benefit everyone who uses and values pāua fisheries.
I know from personal experience that developing and implementing voluntary actions encourages a sense of industry collective responsibility and helps industry groups to develop constructive relationships with other fisheries stakeholders. Non-regulatory measures also have some advantages over regulation in that they can be implemented more rapidly and at a finer spatial scale. Again, what's not to like?
It makes sense, then, that the Minister should consider the weight (if any) that should be given to non-regulatory measures when making sustainability decisions. Pāua fisheries have a long track record of developing and complying with non-regulatory measures, so we look forward to doing even more to support pāua sustainability once our voluntary actions are officially recognised.
My interest is in pāua fisheries, so I've highlighted two aspects of the reforms that are particularly beneficial for pāua. But the proposals are designed as a tool box so that management can be tailored to the needs of particular fisheries. Management procedures and formal recognition of non-regulatory measures will not be suitable for all fisheries. Similarly, many proposals in the reform package are not relevant to pāua but we nevertheless support them because they will modernise our fisheries management tool box.
The reforms have been promoted as a major set of changes that will provide significant benefits to the fishing industry. I see it differently - the reforms are simply a natural progression of our fisheries management regime that will help bring us up to date with best fisheries management practices internationally. Everyone with an interest in fisheries and the marine environment will benefit from having a more strategic, flexible and responsive fisheries management regime.
I urge you to read the proposals and have your say before submissions close on 11 April.
