Media Release
27 September 2016

Regional Committee welcomes tuna decisions

The Canterbury Water Regional Committee today welcomed the Government’s decisions to separate management of longfin and shortfin eel (tuna) stocks and to significantly reduce the take of vulnerable longfin.

The Regional Committee made a submission on the management situation, recommending separation. Picking up on the urgency of the issue last year, the Committee asked Environment Canterbury Commissioners to lead a process to develop a sustainable management plan for longfin.

Committee Chair Andy Pearce said the decisions by Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy would help protect the species, which is taonga species to Ngāi Tahu.

“A working group of the Regional Committee hosted a series of workshops involving a wide range of stakeholders to explore options for sustainable management of longfin throughout Canterbury,” he said.

The group provided a submission to the Fisheries Management System Review 2015 summarising information it had gathered to help inform the review.

“The Minister’s recent announcements will help our sustainability goal,” Andy Pearce concluded. “It will support us in progressing a package of management measures to increase the longfin eel population and improve the species’ long-term sustainability.”

The Canterbury Water Regional Committee is a committee of Environment Canterbury and includes representatives from the regional council, territorial authorities, rūnanga and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, plus one member from each of the 10 water management zone committees.

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