May 17, 2016
Skepticism over fish plunder claim
Labour's fisheries spokesperson wants a review of New Zealand's fisheries quota management system, but he's not convinced by a new report claiming massive under-reporting of catch.
Rino Tirikatene says Maori, who own more than a third of the deepwater quota, need to be sure they are doing the right thing and looking after their fisheries.
That's why the extraordinary claims made by University of Auckland researcher Glenn Simmons need to be tested for the good of the industry.
"Our quota management system is a world leading system and our main deepwater fishery stocks, hoki, hake, ling, southern blue whiting, have all been certified internationally as sustainable fisheries. We are highly regarded as an industry and therefor it doesn't seem to align, these reports of huge under-reporting that have been coming out," Mr Tirikatene says.
He says the government collects large amounts of data under the quota management system, so it needs to sit down with industry and consider questions such as whether the system still works as intended.
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