Commercial fishing industry of the country is drawing up proposals to take control of regulating some of its activities so that it could save billions of dollars in efficiencies. Thus controlling proposal called “Managing Our Own Ship”, the new strategy is the key theme at this year’s Seafood Industry Council (NZSIC) conference, which will be opened by Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday.
According to the council government is also supporting the concept although Minister of Fisheries Phil Heatley appeared cautious about the plan on Friday. But conservationists are not happy with this concept. They said that an attempt to take control of important elements of regulation would lead to a “major brawl”.
On the contrary the council admits that that Managing Our Own Ship is at an early stage but the possible gains could be significant. Its official publication said a “conservative estimate” said the strategy could increase the quota value of the industry by $2.5 billion.
NZIC policy manager Nici Gibbs informed that the conference would try to thrash out agreement on what elements the industry would like control of, and how it would work.
Experts opined that it would be difficult to say where and at what time of year certain fish are caught, to enable the industry to harvest particular species when the market is strongest. Gibbs said the industry would only seek power over “things that are entirely within the scope of the commercial fishing sector”.
Commenting on this Heatley said that while self regulation was “an excellent goal” for the industry, the Government would continue to monitor activities closely. He also told that there are some key responsibilities that must remain with government such as setting sustainable catch limits as well as setting and monitoring standards for managing environmental impacts.
