Three major New Zealand fishing companies are volunteering to use new technology to make it easier to monitor what their vessels are doing.
Aotearoa Fisheries, Sanford and Leigh Fish have all volunteered to employ vessel monitoring systems (VMS) that will send back data via satellite on the vessels’ activities.
“What we want to create is transparency,” said Sanford CEO Volker Kuntzsch. “We have a lot invested in our vessels, inshore and offshore and we need to ensure that we’ve got a profitable return on those so there’s nothing more important for us than having a healthy fishery.”
The announcement drew praise from industry group Seafood New Zealand’s Chief Executive Tim Pankhurst.
“Industry is making significant investments in the latest science and technologies to ensure that is has the right fisheries data and the latest technologies to ensure our fisheries are well managed and sustainable for generations to come,” Pankhurst said. “This VMS system for the snapper fleet is a very good example of industry taking the lead and investing in a tool that can be used to better manage the fishery.”
Any vessels that catch more than five metric tons of snapper every year will have VMS installed by October. The paua industry in New Zealand is also planning to add VMS to its vessels and divers.
