A modelling error by the Ministry of Fisheries resulted in the collapse of the tarakihi fishery had not been apparent to ministry officials because iof a ‘modelling error.”. The 2022 assessment of the eastern tarakihi fishery indicated the population at about 19 percent of pre-fishing levels. But in actual fact it was 8 percent.
But had the ministry’s modelling been correct, in 2022 it would have been at about 12 percent, bordering on total collapse.But a new assessment revealing the previous error also showed the fishery has collapsed, sitting at just 7.7 percent of “virgin biomass.” Ten percent is classified as a “hard limit.”
A fishery at below 10 percent is at a severe risk of not recovering. – wrecked and ruined.
“Newsroom” reported Seafood New Zealand inshore general manager Tiff Bock as being disappointed and frustrated with the true state of the fishery. Criticism of the ministry’s error came thick and fast.
Legasea programme lead Sam Woolford said LegaSea has been critical of the fisheries management system for a long time which he says he says is failing. “How many times do we have to do this before we acknowledge that the quota management system is not fit for purpose? Look at crayfish, scallop, tarakihi and west coast snapper. The list goes on.”
Tony Orman of the Recreational Fishers Marlborough Association said in regular meetings over the last decade with the ministry, the association had time and time again told the ministry the tarakihi fishery around Marlborough and the east coast has been severely depleted.
“Anglers on the water 12 months of the year are in close touch with the fishery, in contrast it seems to bureaucrats sitting in offices 12 months of the year. It shouldn’t be forgotten fisheries are a public resource,” he said. “It’s so frustrating to inform the ministry of trends, warn them and be ignored. That frustration turns to anger when the warnings are ignored and fisheries collapse through sheer negligence.
“Newsroom” reported Fisheries New Zealand fisheries management director Emma Taylor saying the ministry’s science process is robust and draws from a range of expertise from across the fisheries management spectrum, including environmental groups, industry, research providers, and its own scientists.
What sort of Ministry of Fisheries have we? Collapses in orange roughy-second time as it collapsed in 1990s – crayfish, kahawai, freshwater eels and others teetering.
If it comes to that, what sort of Fisheries minister have we? Arguably a big conflict iof interest as over elections, Jones has had substantial donations from corporate fishing companies, was chairman reportedly of Sealords.
Tony Orman is quite correct. Dedicated anglers know more about the fishery than bureaucratic boffins sitting in centrally heated offices.
Why do governments tolerate an incompetent ministry?
Sam Woolford of LegaSea identified the crux of the problem..the Quota Management System, dominated by corporate “fat cats” like Sanfords, Talleys and Sealords. The QMS was tailor made for corporate to aggregate quota, dominate the resource and wield major influence by political donations and heavens knows what other inducements.
Bit like many industries that nature provides bring it to the point of collapse and spend a lifetime trying to restore it, the logging of native timber would be another example as was commercial eeling
The further the bureaucracies are distanced from reality by their theoretical “modelling” the worse the disasters they cause.
And now they’e got AI to further confuse the issues. When the use of AI is frequently accompanied by the warning, “AI can make mistakes” surely serious questions should be asked concerning it’s sneaky introduction.
A man with credibility in his field, in a specialist area (45 years doing wild, introduced species population management .. actually out there, doing the work, in the field) recently passed the comment to me “ultimately, shinybums make all of the decisions”.
He is absolutely right .. and in pretty-much every endeavour, right across the board.
I also recently listened to an interview where the guy being interviewed (Australia’s Senator Malcolm Roberts) was asked “what scares you the most .. if we have a continued trajectory of what we’ve got now, what is the biggest threat that you see for our country .. is it immigration .. is it free speech .. is it all of them .. what worries you the most?” .. to which the response was “government ..”
“The size of government growing?”
“.. the dishonesty of government .. the incompetence of government .. the waste of government .. the lies of government …”
Again, he is absolutely right, and it’s equally true here in New Zealand .. and right across the board.
We, the people, .. our lives, our health system, our education system, our system for justice, law and order, for social development and housing, for our economy and trade, for environment and primary industries, for foreign affairs .. are constantly being pounded by the effects of poor government
The whole, farkin lot of it.
And not just by this government, or that government .. the combined effect of all of them.
We put 120 people up in that building .. they jostle, fight, squabble, self-appoint people we would never elect, draw big salaries, rip off the system with their expenses .. and generally, absolutely, fu#k things up, for the rest of us.
Collectively, we’ve lost the plot .. and we’re out of control.
I heard it on the radio a while ago “the only guy who ever went to parliament, with honest intentions .. was Guy Fawkes” .. and do you know, I think there’s a lot of truth in that.
What do we do about reining this in?
PS. I am not talking about *all* of the individuals in parliament. While many of them simply should not be there .. there are also some very good people amongst our MP’s .. who are not ideologically-driven .. they are motivated by doing what is best for us, and our country.
No, I’m talking about the system .. the collective .. the nett effect of successive governments, over time.
Some governments are better than others. Some drive us towards economic, environmental, and social ruination. Others try and fix the damage. But over time, the nett effect is holding our country back, and driving us towards nett zero (and I’m not talking about carbon emissions!)
What, oh what, can we do?
Jones simply doesnt care as long as his Sealord buddies are getting fat, some one tell me a government is the has acted before the horse bolted
2 Right Peter , recon this Coalition ready for a collapse ? due to the gross ignorance & buccaneering ! with Minsters Like Shane Jones , who really should know better.