Fisheries management throughout the world has been a topic of heated debate as anything is that does not have clear ownership or delineated boundaries. In the case of ocean fisheries there is an embedded psychology of resource exploitation and little to no incentives when it comes to caring for or preserving the resource if others do not. This is further exacerbated by the added lure of exploiting the resource before the next person that comes along does. This attitude is still being perpetuated in New Zealand and along with the lax quota management system that tends to favor commercial fishing , there is a questionable amount of doubt about whether fisheries management is effective for both managing human interactions with the marine environment and maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.
New Zealand’s fisheries are governed under the Fisheries Act of 1996, which establishes a framework for managing commercial, recreational and customary fishing with the purpose of providing for the use of these resources while ensuring sustainability (Ministry of Fisheries). While this piece of legislation does provide for the use of fisheries resources, it is lacking when it comes to ensuring sustainability. The Quota Management System (QMS) is the mechanism through which a quota is applied to a heavily fished stock in order to meet the objectives of use and sustainability outlined by the Fisheries Act. The QMS also sets a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the three stakeholders involved: recreational fishermen, Maori fishermen, and commercial fishermen for which a Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) is imposed. Due to the limited amount of human resources, only commercial catch is monitored under this management framework. This leaves it very susceptible to abuse, particularly in the recreational catch where “bag” or per person limits are hardly, if ever enforced. Not to mention, recreational bag limits are exceptionally high. For instance, these fishermen can catch up to 6 crayfish and 9 snapper per day. With this poorly managed system, monitoring becomes extremely difficult resulting in poor estimations of total catch.
What is even more worrisome is the commercial catch in vulnerable areas. While the Fisheries Act operates on the foundation of maintaining a maximum sustainable yield in theory, this is not always the case in reality. In the commercial fisheries sector, quotas are owned like a property right and are thus dubbed “individually transferable quotas” as they can be bought or sold. The problem with this is that these quotas, or shares of the TACC are not always set where scientific limits would tell you. Commercially valuable stocks are being depleted at rapid rates and overfishing is becoming a trend. In practice, the Fisheries Act does not account for the insurance of sustainability when it comes to placing ecologically sound limits on the TACC. An example of this would be commercial fishing being allowed to fish the large breeding stock of populations, which results in a dramatic decline in stock numbers and quickly leads to overfishing facilitated by the ignorance of fishermen and governing bodies alike.
Our time and experiences in the marine reserves in both Leigh and the Poor Knights allowed for a better understanding of the issues at hand. Marine reserves are areas where all marine life is protected and all potentially disturbing activities are prohibited. Leigh was the first established marine reserve in New Zealand and it took 12 years to achieve it. Observing the fish here was quite spectacular due to the fact that they were not at all scared of human presence. In the initial years of this marine reserve, people were allowed to feed the fish, which resulted in a completely human altered environment where fish were not naturally obtaining their food. The feeding of fish was eventually banned and nothing was put into or taken out of this marine ecosystem.
The benefit of having marine reserves in the case of marine ecosystems that are near depletion is the ability for these vulnerable areas to regenerate and thrive again. It is clear that marine reserves are an ecological no-brainer, but having these totally protected areas benefits the fisheries in surrounding waters from overflow. In both practice and theory, marine reserves are necessary for ensuring the sustainability of both marine ecosystems and fisheries. However, the way in which the governing processes by which they administered and established leaves much to be desired with conflicts of interest abound. According to the 2000 New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy, a goal was set for having 10% of New Zealand marine environments in a network of marine protected areas by 2010. This goal was not met and as of now no new reserves are being considered. With only a small percentage of New Zealand’s marine environment currently under protection, there is enormous tension between the short-term gains of fisheries and long-term sustainable practices. Since fisheries account for a large portion of New Zealand’s GDP, economic interests are consistently vying for attention over sustainable practices, leaving marine reserves to become an afterthought among most. Examples of existing reserves need to be brought to the forefront of fisheries management because without them, fishing in a sustainable way would be near to completely impossible.
Education as well as community involvement are critical components to the insurance of sustainability as well. Without marine reserves this would prove very difficult. Based on the experiences from Leigh and the Poor Knights, human interaction with the marine environment can be managed in a sustainable way and establishing marine reserves is the most full-proof way. No resources or time is wasted in having marine reserves, while an incredible amount of work is required for the maintenance and monitoring of marine protected areas. As one of our guest lectures, Bill Ballentine, the man behind the first marine reserve in New Zealand noted, “the burden of proof [as related to marine reserves] is reversed; no evidence of damage is needed.” What is currently lacking is better management and enforcement of fisheries in areas that are not in proximity to the 34 current marine reserves in New Zealand waters. More stringent regulations on commercial fishing are essential to achieving sustainability and flaws such as not addressing the issue of by-catch within the Quota Management System need to be accounted for. Instating fishing licenses would take away some of the freedom New Zealanders hold near and dear, but it may also be the best possible solution when it comes to better enforcement and monitoring of fisheries.
All in all, the benefits of marine reserves are insurmountable to both the marine environment and fisheries with a lot that is still yet to be discovered. Through education and research on marine reserves, much is being learned about commercial fishing stocks that have never been apparent to us before. For instance, the crayfish is being rapidly depleted due to fishing of the breeding stock. A further alarming complication is the discovery that females have only 10 days when their eggs are ready to find a suitable mate before the eggs will degenerate, causing the sterility of the female. This has the capacity to wipe out entire populations of crayfish if management does not cater to being ecologically viable. The different stakeholders involved in fisheries management is another complicated hurdle that needs to be taken into account when ensuring a sustainable practice. Although New Zealand has much to overcome in order to achieve sustainability in fisheries management, the groundbreaking work of few have put New Zealand on the map for marine conservation efforts. It was exciting experiencing marine reserves firsthand and through the continued efforts of local communities, affecting change might not be as far out of reach as suspect.
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