Media statement
Thursday, 10 March 2011

Dunne: New ministry must do more for recreational fishing

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne has greeted the decision to merge Fisheries with Agriculture and Forestry with a call for the new organisation to be more responsive to the needs of recreational fishers.

“For too long recreational fishers have been the poor downtrodden cousins of our fisheries sector, the new ministry gives us a great opportunity to change that,” said Mr Dunne.

“New Zealanders have a long tradition of utilising our marine resources and common rights to harvest food for the table. Currently, however, these common rights are being largely ignored as recreational interests are subservient to both commercial and customary interests.”

“Unfortunately the recreational sector has neither the resources, or at present, the influence to effectively challenge the status quo. The new ministry should be tasked with helping to change this.”

“There are two specific areas of policy I wish to see Government and the new ministry focus on.”

“Firstly there needs to be work done in conjunction with the recreational sector to establish a statutory management organisation to better represent and protect the interests of recreational fishing.”

“Secondly, a review needs to be conducted, and if necessary the Fisheries Act amended, to ensure that the recreational user’s share of the quota is not further undermined by the unsustainable activities of the commercial sector.”

“These two initiatives alone would go a long way to addressing the concerns of the recreational fishing sector, while also establishing a more level playing field across fisheries as a whole.”

“The more than 1 million recreational fishers in New Zealand and the ongoing sustainability of our fishery deserve far better representation than they currently enjoy. I hope the new combined Ministry can assist in achieving that,” said Mr Dunne.

Ends

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