Advocates of better fisheries management have welcomed a $30.5 million boost over four years announced in the Budget.
However they have warned that unless the funding for cameras and electronic reporting is backed up by better enforcement, the public will not regain confidence in management.
Last year a leaked Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) report showed its own officials believed that between 20 to 100 per cent of some quota fish were being discarded during every haul.
The Government also announced in the Budget an extra $18.4m over four years to strengthen the biosecurity system and protect borders from alien pests and diseases.
MPI Minister Nathan Guy said the fisheries funding would upgrade and modernise the fisheries management system. The new system would be “arguably the most transparent and accountable commercial fishery anywhere in the world”.
Vessel position monitoring and electronic catch reporting will begin on October 1, followed by cameras on every vessel phased in from October 1 next year.
It would allow “fine-scale” management and focus on smaller geographic areas and specific bays of concern. It would support more detailed scientific research of the marine environment.
Industry will pay for the cameras and other new technology, but MPI will partly fund the new system.
Forest and Bird advocate Kevin Hackwell said the public had lost confidence in fisheries management. The funding seemed “a bit on the lean side” and the new technology needed to be reinforced by enforcement where necessary.
Legesea spokesman Scott McIndoe called for an overhaul of the quota management system. He agreed the new funding would go some way towards better management.
“We are told it is the world’s best, but the reality is collapsing fisheries,” he said.
The extra $18.4m for biosecurity brings the total budget for the sector to $248m a year. The cost of pests such as possums, rabbits and wallabies to the primary sector is estimated at $1 billion a year.
Guy said part of the new funding would be used to manage biosecurity risk off-shore so fewer pests and diseases made it to New Zealand. Import Health Standards (IHS) will be reviewed to ensure the rules around importing goods are strong and up to date.
“A major focus will also go on lifting public awareness and participation because biosecurity is the responsibility of all New Zealanders. This will involve targeted programmes to drive awareness and behaviour changes, and to meet our goal of having 90 per cent of relevant businesses actively managing pest and disease risks.
“The funding will also be used to accelerate the development and uptake of new tools to detect and eradicate pests, including sonar scanning of vessel hulls and automatic acoustic traps for use in pest surveillance and eradication,” Guy said.
Labour Primary Industries spokesman Damien O’Connor said if the economy was growing as much as National claimed it to be, its commitment to biosecurity was not keeping pace.
“The sum of $18.4m is simply insufficient to protect our economy, a pathetic addition.”
Recent years have seen the arrival of pests such as Psa (kiwifruit), velvet leaf (fodder beet), pea weevil (peas) and myrtle rust (manuka, pohutukawa, feijoas).
2017 Fairfax New Zealand Limited