New Zealand’s largest seafood company Sealord is concerned that WWF’s A Nature Positive Aotearoa report presents an inaccurate understanding of the complexities of New Zealand’s commercial fishing industry.
The overarching sentiment of the report outlines the economic benefits of reversing nature loss, by driving actions within our primary sectors including the seafood industry. Sealord agrees with this approach, however positive change is not possible without an accurate picture of the current state, which is lacking in the WWF report.
Sealord’s GM Sustainability Stu Yorston says that Sealord is in full support of the nature positive movement – protecting and restoring more areas of our land, waters and seas.
‘Many businesses come to nature after first tackling climate risk. For us it is the other way around – considering nature impacts is absolutely woven into our operating model because without a healthy ocean and sustainable fish populations, we have no business,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately, the report has a naïve understanding of the commercial fishing sector in New Zealand, therefore many of the recommendations fall short as the assertions behind them are incorrect.’
For instance, the precis to the report notes: “Meeting the GBF targets will require the industry to shift away from indiscriminate practices like bottom trawling…”
According to Stu Yorston, around 80% of New Zealand’s commercial catch is caught by trawling and this is a highly accurate form of fishing.
‘The deepsea fishing fleet has been bottom trawling across the same trawl lines for decades in targeted fishing zones that minimise further seabed impacts in virgin areas. We trawl less than 3% of New Zealand’s ocean territory each year in the same areas where the fish are. It’s the opposite of indiscriminate,’ he said, adding that further concerns relating to WWF’s report include references to bottom trawling carbon emissions that have already been debunked by a number of leading scientisist.
He commented that the report describes a future in which the Quota Management System (QMS) is responsive to fisheries and ocean data, and protects from overfishing.
‘The inference that the current system does not do these fundamental aspects of fisheries management is incorrect. That is exactly what the QMS does. Like all institutions there are processes that could be updated or improved, but the report fails to address what these are,’ he said.
