These so-called “reforms” would allow cameras to be switched off, reduce public oversight, and weaken protections for dolphins, seabirds, and our precious fisheries. All this, just to boost corporate profits for a fraction of the GDP.
Next week, we’ll have public submission forms ready so you can make your voice heard. It’s time to stand up for our oceans, our communities, and the idea that feeding our own people should come before fattening the pockets of a select few. Our fish belong to all Kiwis – let’s keep it that way.
Carnage
‘Shane Jones, Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, claims the public are conducting a “trial by TikTok” when they point out the carnage caught on camera aboard New Zealand’s commercial fishing vessels. He’d prefer those cameras to be turned off – or disappear entirely – because the footage they capture is damning. It shows what industry insiders have likely known for years: rampant discarding of fish, protected species getting tangled in the nets, and a casual disregard for the rules when no one’s watching.
discards compared to what was previously reported. Discards of kingfish have exploded by 950%, and snapper by over 1000%. Interactions with dolphins, seabirds, and other protected species are on the rise – albatross reports alone were up 3.7 times. That’s from reviewing only a fraction of the total footage. If that doesn’t set off alarm bells, nothing will.
Discarding unwanted fish is not a new issue. In 2016 we received a copy of the government inquiry report into commercial fishing.
The Heron Report included information from 2014, when the then MPI Director of Fisheries Management, Dave Turner, made it clear that discards were “the single biggest issue we face in our wild stock fisheries”. Saying:
“Discarding is a systemic failure of the current system and something we have not been able to get on top of from day one of the QMS [Quota Management System]. Fisheries Management can’t quantify the tonnages involved, but we suspect they are significant to the point that they are impacting on stocks”.
The recent proposals suggest that cameras can be turned off at certain times, or they will only supply footage if you are the person in view. If the OIA process to access footage is watered down, we lose one of the only means New Zealand have to hold this industry accountable.
In the past five years, alongside our partners, The Kai Ika Project has worked incredibly hard to share over 500,000kg of previously unwanted fish heads and frames with the community. It’s gutting for us all to think that the dumping of edible fish will occur when the cameras are turned off. The fishing lobby would love the off switch because the numbers emerging from these videos are too ugly to spin.
Just Lip Service
Seafood NZ recently issued a press release claiming cameras are making fishers more “vigilant,” but that comes off as pure lip service. You can’t just dismiss a thousand-percent increase in discards as a small oversight, and you certainly can’t celebrate “vigilance” when this travesty was only exposed by cameras on boats and public access to the government report.
Shane Jones is pitching a narrative that it’s all being blown out of proportion, but that’s only plausible if you never see the footage for yourself. And if he gets his way with the cameras, you never will. This is the classic bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach: if no one sees the problem, maybe it’ll go away. Out of sight, out of mind.
More Protection
The bottom line is that our marine ecosystems need more protection, not less. Yet, the changes Shane Jones wants to make to the Fisheries Act would do the opposite: allowing cameras on fishing boats to be switched off, restricting public access to footage. Undermining the transparency that’s revealed the real impact of commercial fishing. Without that accountability, we’re handing the keys to an industry that’s shown it can’t be trusted to police itself – enabled by a minister riddled with conflicts of interest.
“Trial by TikTok”? Hardly. It’s called transparency, and it’s the only thing stopping them from dumping the truth overboard right alongside their unwanted catch.
Public consultation is open until March 28 so keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for more information on the proposed changes and how you can speak up.
In the meantime, we need your support. Share this newsletter with your friends, family, neighbours to let them know what’s happening and encourage them to subscribe to receive our upcoming LegaSea newsletters.
Or even better, you can donate to LegaSea if you’re in a position to spare some cash to help us oppose the Minister’s proposed changes.
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Sadly Shane Jones ‘s portfolio should be the Minister of Commercial Fisheries.
It’s amazing that given his past track record of donations to election campaigns by some of the big companies, that he was appointed to the post?
Accountability is needed to ensure there’s trust by the public particularly where public assets are involved as in this case fisheries. Without transparency and openness, this trust breaks down, people come to realise they are being duped and there are no boundaries to limit or erase corruption – and where a resource is involved, chaos will likely follow.
The sea fishery is in a chaotic state now. For example, kahawai numbers have been plundered and food chains disrupted. Remember the kahawai court case?
The biggest danger is apathy by the public either born of selfishness and no thought for future generations or despair at the false words of politicians and governments.