Fishing industry spin on Kermadecs out of control

As the Local Government and Environment Select Committee hears submissions on the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill today in Wellington, WWF-New Zealand has released an analysis exposing dubious fishing industry claims used to argue against full protection for the Kermadecs.

By examining fisheries data, official ministry advice, peer-reviewed science, and an Official Information Act (OIA) response, the analysis, sub-titled ‘Separating the rhetoric from the reality’, demonstrates that several of the industry’s core arguments lack a factual basis and are seriously flawed. This document was submitted to the Select Committee this morning.

“One of the fishing industry’s key arguments for seeking to block protection for the globally-important Kermadec region is that some tuna species can only be caught there for four months of the year,” said Alex Smith, WWF-New Zealand Senior Campaigner.

At the 2016 Māori Fisheries Conference, Jamie Tuuta (Director of Te Ohu Kaimoana/ TOKM) stated: “What iwi are missing out on are the rights to catch the highly migratory species – the tunas – yellow fin, big eye, southern bluefin during the four months of the year that they are in the Kermadec zone – they aren’t anywhere else in the rest of our EEZ during that time”.

Alex Smith said using the best available information, the evidence clearly showed that this claim about the presence of tuna was factually incorrect.

A combination of a Ministry of Primary Industries’ (MPI) OIA response and data from the National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System, shows that yellowfin, southern bluefin and bigeye tuna are all present in New Zealand waters outside of the Kermadec region all year around.

The analysis also undermines the industry’s arguments that Benthic Protected Areas are an adequate contribution to international biodiversity conservation commitments and that the Sanctuary would deny commercial fishers access to 66 fish/shellfish species.

This analysis also rebuffs the fishing industry’s assertion that New Zealand cannot legally create marine protected areas in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Alex Smith said the UK, Australia, United States and Chile had all set up marine reserves within their EEZs and their right to do so had not been challenged.

“The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary offers an opportunity for New Zealand’s fishing industry to demonstrate a clear commitment to best practice ocean management,” he said.

“Instead, the industry has chosen to attack the Sanctuary proposal using a series of dubious claims.

“The industry is completely out of touch with the 89% of New Zealanders who support protecting the Kermadecs.

“WWF-New Zealand believes that the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary is too important to allow the fishing industry’s inaccurate claims to cause confusion and uncertainty, which is why we have produced this analysis to separate the rhetoric from the reality.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media