Labour Flounders Over Fish Policy

"Jim Sutton has executed a typical Labour policy back-flip over his call to force recreational fishers to pay to catch fish," says Hon David Carter, Associate Minister for Food, Fibre, Biosecurity and Border Control.

Yesterday Jim Sutton told the Seafood Industry Council conference that he believed amateur fishers needed to be licensed in certain parts of New Zealand, including the northern part of the North Island down to the Waikato, the Coromandel region and the Marlborough Sounds.

"Today Jim Sutton has eaten his words, claiming Labour has no current plans for licensing recreational fishers and that his comments referred to "some time in the future"."

"Mr Sutton can't make up his mind what his party's fishery policy is. One moment he's advocating tighter controls on the recreational sector to appease commercial fishers, the next moment he's backing down in the media."

"Mr Sutton is a classic example of a politician trying to please everybody in election year, but unfortunately his U-turns won't win him any votes."

"Fishers, both commercial and recreational, deserve better policy than that being offered by Labour's slippery flip flop merchant. Consistency would be a good start."