Changes to Fishing Quotas and Deemed Values

www.sanford.co.nz
SANFORD LIMITED
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD

25 September 2007

Changes to Commerical Fishing Quotas and Deemed Values

While welcoming many of the changes to fishing quotas and deemed values announced by the Minister of Fisheries today Sanford’s main concern is that the cut in hoki quota will not be sufficient to see an early recovery in the western stock. Sanford, along with Sealord and Aotearoa Fisheries Limited had earlier called on the Minister to reduce the quota by 20,000 tonnes, all from the western stock. That call was made to ensure the earliest possible recovery of the stock and the least likely risk that there would need to be further cuts.

The Minister in reducing the hoki quota from 100,000 to only 90,000 tonnes has also requested a shift of 5,000 tonnes catch from the western to the eastern area (in Cook Strait) effectively reducing the western catch by 15,000 tonnes but increasing the pressure on the slowly recovering eastern stock.

We would have preferred the Minister took a more audacious step which he has obviously seen fit to do in the orange roughy fisheries in the northern area (ORH1) and the South Island west coast (ORH7B). There he described his actions as being “willing to act decisively when required, to maintain the integrity of the fisheries management system."

The reductions in catch limits for species such as red cod and flatfish while large in percentage terms bring quotas down to average catch levels and will therefore have little overall impact.

We welcome his decisions to increase deemed values for fishers who catch fish without being able to cover that catch with quota. From publicly available catch and quota registers it is obvious that there has been serious and intentional targeting of fish without quota by some operators because the deemed values have been set at a level that still allows economic gains from this activity. These changes to deemed values will make these activities uneconomic and force fishers to work within quota limits.

While the Minister has failed to address all the anomalies (for example white warehou 5B deemed value is set at $0.54 per kg whereas the revenue from the catch is $3.37 per kg he has made significant progress in an area where the government has been slow to act in the past.

Sanford has been planning for most of these changes for the coming fishing year and working to minimize the economic impact by seeking higher prices in the market place for the lower volumes of hoki and focusing asset deployment into underutilized species such as squid, barracouta and mackerel as well as increasing our aquaculture production.

E F Barratt
MANAGING DIRECTOR

ENDS

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