New Zealand's seafood industry does some things exceptionally well. But there's also so much we can learn from our international counterparts. Fiona MacMillan has been in three days of meetings with commercial fishing organisations from 24 countries, attempting to do just that.
Imagine a world in which fish stocks are thriving, fishers are happy and respected, and consumers proudly eat seafood because they understand how good it is for them. How far do you think we are from that world? In New Zealand we can point to well-managed fisheries, many (though perhaps not enough) consumers do understand that they are benefitting from including seafood in their diets and many fishers are happy in their work (although not all would say they feel respected by society in general).
A few years ago, I would have told you that New Zealand was ahead of the rest of the world in terms of fisheries management and behind in the way commercial fishing is viewed by the wider public, because of sustained campaigns of negativity by activists who have taken against our industry. After three days of very chunky international meetings last week, I have changed my mind on several fronts and for several reasons.
Don't worry - we are still in a fantastic place in terms of the health of our fisheries, but there are so many other areas where we have things we can learn.
Firstly on misinformation. Across the world, we are seeing well-funded campaigns against commercial fishing take root. The attacks that have happened here in Aotearoa are being mirrored elsewhere. We may have had the dubious distinction of being an early testing ground for some of these campaigns, which often ignore the reality of well-managed fisheries in order to focus on extreme examples and worst-case scenarios.
And this was far from the only issue we have in common with other participants in ICFA.
ICFA is the International Coalition for Fisheries Associations. It is made up of organisations like Seafood New Zealand from 24 jurisdictions across six continents. To give you an idea of the heft behind this body, I'm listing all these organisations at the bottom of this piece.
All of them are dealing with misinformation from activist groups. The deep pockets of the funders of these activists ensures that they can be at every significant international event where big decisions are made about the management of the world's marine resources. These are meetings like IUCN, CBD, COP and BBNJ. That's a lot of acronyms and knowing their full titles doesn't matter as much as understanding that we have not had the budget to be there. I thought there was very little we could do about this, but ICFA has resolved this year to find a way to get to more of these meetings and give all of us more of a voice. New Zealand can't afford to be popping over to Europe or heading to the States as often as is needed to get to these crucial meetings, but our ICFA colleagues can represent us, as long as we keep telling them where we stand.
Another issue we are dealing with is the impact of marine spatial planning. I thought we were more impacted than others in this regard. Well, we're not. The Australians are referring to it as the "spatial squeeze." This goes beyond the idea of protecting 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. This is the competition for access with a number of other ocean users such as mining, energy and recreational. Of these, commercial fishing is the sector with the most to gain from healthy oceans. But we are often, as the Danes said, at the bottom of the pile when decisions are being made about who can go where. Like Australia, several ICFA members are working out how to fairly share the ocean space in a way that is best for all and for the ocean itself. We will be able to learn from what they find.
A third area (and there are so many more) where we are closely aligned with our international colleagues is in bottom trawling. This much-misunderstood fishing method is being maligned the world over. And the truth is that any negative effects from trawling can be controlled with the right choice of location and the right kind of gear. Our trawl fleet is small scale by international standards but it is responsible for about 70% of our total commercial catch. Why? Because it's the most efficient way to get a fish from the ocean to your plate. Without it, fish would be the preserve of the very privileged. ICFA agrees that trawling is misunderstood and it is working at an international level to help correct that. Its members also recognise that we need to keep working on technology to continue to lighten the trawl footprint. We will be able to learn from their experiences.
There are many reasons for being part of an organisation like ICFA. It's not just because we can all feel better, knowing that we are not alone. It's because New Zealand alone would never have the time or money to travel to the many meetings where fisheries decisions are made. We wouldn't be able to turn up at the UN and ask to be heard. We wouldn't have access to the science, expertise and experience of 23 other countries. ICFA members have experience in the policy space we can learn from. They have scientific knowledge we can apply here. They are working on innovations that we can shamelessly copy if they work out.
ICFA is working to correct the record and the misperceptions about fishing at the highest level. We can do our bit locally, and we can also be part of the global effort. We know that what happens here can be mirrored overseas and, crucially, what happens overseas will soon happen to us. We see NGOs working at a global level, we can learn from them too. Solidarity and cooperation is the way to go. We don't need to be a lone voice.
Organisations in ICFA:
Associacion des Industriales Pesqueros (Chile), Confederacion Espanola de Pesca (Spain), Danish Fishers PO (Denmark), Danish Pelagic Producer Organisation (Denmark), Federation of Maritime Fishing and Aquaculture (Morocco), Fisheries Council of Canada (Canada), Fisheries Iceland (Iceland), Japan Fisheries Association (Japan), Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (Australia), Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (Ireland), Latin American Alliance for Sustainable Fishing and Food Security (ALPESCAS, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador and Costa Rica)), National Fisheries Institute (USA), Norwegian Fishing Vessel Owners Association (Norway), Pelagic Freezer-trawler Association (Netherlands), Seafish (UK), Seafood New Zealand (New Zealand), Sociedad Nacional de Pesqueria (Peru), Taiwan Fisheries Association (Taiwan), Union des Armateurs a la Peche de France (France)
