The ministry informed that the proposed changes are based on the best available scientific research and fish stock assessment information. The Ministry of Fisheries has a large scale programme of scientific research and monitoring, spending around $20million on fisheries research every year. Ministry of Fisheries Deputy Chief Executive Gavin Lockwood said that the research that underpins our proposals has been through a rigorous process of assessment and peer review by working groups of highly qualified fishery scientists along with representatives from environmental interest groups and the fishing industry.
Lockwood opines that the changes based on sound science show that a larger increase would be sustainable but the Ministry of Fisheries wants to take a cautious and conservative approach. He added that the latest research programme shows that the proposed reopening of the Challenger Plateau orange roughy fishery with a conservative catch limit would be sustainable.
The proposal has significant catch reductions which will be carefully monitored to make sure these reductions will be effective, says Lockwood. Only 8 percent of New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone has ever been bottom trawled. 17 areas have been closed to bottom trawling, providing protection to an area of seafloor equal to 1.2 million square kilometres, or an area four times the landmass of New Zealand.
