LUXTON RELEASES MAJOR REVIEW OF THE FISHERIES ACT 1996

The Minister for Food, Fibre, Biosecurity, Border Control and Associate International Trade, John Luxton today released, 'Fishing for the Future', the report of the independent reviewer of commercial aspects of the Fisheries Act 1996'. The report was prepared by Mr Tony Hartevelt of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

'I am very pleased to note that the independent reviewer's recommendations are consistent with the strategic direction for the sustainable management of our commercial fisheries that I, and my advisors at the Ministry of Fisheries, have been working on for the last eighteen months.' the Minister said.

'The Quota Management System is regarded as a world leading fisheries management regime. It has protected our fisheries better than anywhere else in the world. The World Wide Fund for Nature have recently published a paper recommending that the rest of the world should follow New Zealand's example and introduce a QMS to help address the problem of global overfishing.

"This Review is about providing an Act that will make the QMS even better; simpler, less costly and clearly focused on our goal of sustainable use of our fisheries. The Review also provides recommendations that, if taken up, will allow for fisheries rights holders to take more of the responsibility for managing their fisheries.'

IMPLEMENTATION
The Minister announced today that he intends to put the reviewer's recommendations before his Cabinet colleagues. He hopes to announce Cabinet decisions on reforms to the management of New Zealand's commercial fisheries sector before Christmas.

The Minister noted that amendments to the Fisheries Act 1996 would be necessary to implement any proposed reforms. He also noted that the legislative process will allow for significant public consultation and scrutiny on any reforms.

'Personally, I think the Reviewer's recommendations have considerable merit and I am content that we are strategically on the right track. I want to thank the reviewer and all those involved for their efforts," Mr Luxton said.

BACKGROUND
As it stands the Fisheries Act 1996 has resulted in very centralised and prescriptive approach. This means that the Act would have been very expensive to implement and inflexible to manage, which would have lead to poor management and environmental outcomes.

In addition the present Fisheries Act 1996 Act would not have allowed for the devolution of non-core Government fisheries services (approved by Cabinet) and would have provided few incentives for fisheries rights holders to take a more constructive role in managing their share of the fisheries resource.

These problems lead to the appointment of Mr Tony Hartevelt as independent reviewer on 5 June 1998.

REVIEW OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the review were to:

- examine the existing legislative framework for commercial fisheries management in New Zealand;
- recommend changes to improve the efficient use of commercial fisheries resources;
- examine the commercial cost recovery regime (already the subject of an inquiry completed by the Primary Production Select Committee); and
- outline the scope and timing of a practical programme of reform.

The reviewer was not asked to address issues in relation to environmental protection, customary Maori or recreational fisheries management.

In summary, the reviewer made recommendations in five key areas, as outlined below.

Streamlining the Act
The reviewer recommends amending the Fisheries Act 1996 to:

- introduce a new simplified catch balancing system;
- maintain the integrity of total allowable commercial catches;
- amend aspects of the offences and penalties regime;
- remove provisions that duplicate other legislation;
- remove provisions that are largely administrative and can be dealt with by regulation ;
- provide for regulations to enable specification and standards to be set for information custodianship and access requirements, consistent with the Government's fisheries information stewardship role.

Cost Recovery
The independent reviewer recommends fundamental changes in this area. He recommends moving away from the present 'avoidable cost' principle to an efficiency-based approach, where those groups that benefit from using the fisheries pay for the supporting services.

Provide for Aquaculture
The reviewer recommends clarifying the use rights and responsibilities in the aquaculture sector and better integrating them with commercial, recreational and customary fishers' rights. These recommendations will also allow for better integration of the Fisheries and Resource Management Acts in this area.

Devolution of Services
The reviewer recommends that the Fisheries Act 1996 should provide for the devolution of commercial registry services to the commercial rights holders as expediently as possible, at the Minister's discretion.

Co-management of the Commercial Fisheries Resource
The reviewer recommends amending the Act to:

- enable the Minister to devolve fisheries management responsibilities to rights holder groups;
- enable the Minister to approve fish stock management plans developed by representative and accountable quota owner associations; and
- provide for regulations designating appropriate specifications and standards for devolved management functions and the elements required in a fish stock management plan.