Quota owners in New Zealand’s hoki fishing industry have proactively chosen to reduce the amount of hoki they will catch next year in response to changing stock patterns being observed in one of the five hoki fishing grounds.
Hoki is the largest New Zealand fishery and represents around one-quarter of all the fish allowed to be commercially caught in the country’s waters.
The decision includes shelving 20,000 metric tons (MT) of west coast quota, which represents a 22 percent catch reduction for the fishery. At the same time, industry leaders have agreed there will be no carryover of any uncaught west coast quota from the 2017/18 fishing year.
Tom Birdsall, chair of the Deepwater Group, said the changes on the west coast of the South Island are being closely monitored.
“Hoki are there in good numbers in areas inside the 25-mile line, closer to the coast, and we have also had a good season in the Cook Strait, on the Chatham Rise and in the Sub-Antarctic. But outside the 25-mile line, on the west coast of New Zealand, fewer hoki have turned up than expected. We decided to act now, to make sure we are doing the best thing possible for the fishery,” he said.
The fishing companies included in the initiative are: Independent Fisheries Limited (IFL), Maruha, Sanford, Sealord, Talley’s Group, Te Ohu Kaimoana, United Fisheries and Vela Group.
Doug Paulin, general manager of Sealord, said, “We prefer to be conservative in our approach so that we can have a positive influence on the hoki fishery and give it the strongest future. It is extremely positive and significant to have everyone working together in this way.”
Volker Kuntzsch, CEO of Sanford, added, “We believed it was prudent to take this action in light of changing patterns of distribution of hoki. We are aware that there has been an unusual pattern of warmer water temperatures in the Tasman Sea in the last 18 months. We can’t say for sure that this is causing hoki to change their behavior, but until the science can give us firm answers, we felt that this co-operative approach to limit our fishing activity was the right thing to do.”
Mark Allison, managing director of IFL, helped bring the various industry leaders together and said the decision was about putting sustainability first.
“Co-operation is the key to a sustainable fishery and that includes working closely with MPI to support the government’s management of the hoki fishery,” he said.
Birdsall highlighted that this is not the first time fishing industry leaders have agreed to shelve an amount of quota in a deepwater fishery.
“It is one of the effective measures industry sets in place to complement government controls. It is heartening to see quota owners working together like this to ensure the best outcome for the fishery,” he said.
Andrew Talley, of Talley’s Group, said that adopting this precautionary approach with industry leaders demonstrated the sector’s ability to move quickly when the need is there.
“We have supported the Promise Campaign by the wider New Zealand seafood industry. This is a demonstration of that commitment in real time,” he said.
