Kaikoura Poaching Offence Highlights Need To Rein Fishing Corporates In - CORANZ

It is well past time corporate fishing companies were reined in says the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations (CORANZ).

CORANZ chairman Andi Cockroft”s comment was in response to recent court cases in which Talley Fisheries were found guilty of fishing in a Kaikoura marine reserve.

“The decision underlines strongly the need for much greater accountability from Fisheries NZ and MPI and corporate companies. Companies have had an extraordinary deep influence on political parties, the ministry and fisheries management,” he said. “For far too long corporate fishing companies have been allowed to plunder fisheries virtually unhindered”.

Andi Cockroft said matters like company political donations to political parties, the hindering of getting cameras on boats resisted by the companies and former Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash’s failure to honour a Labour Party 2017 election promise to conduct an independent credible review of the Quota Management System (QMS) all added up to failure to efficiently manage the public’s fisheries.

“The QMS results in corporate companies monopolising fisheries quota and the industry itself and that’s what’s increasingly happening.”

It is estimated corporate companies now own more than 75 percent of fish stocks quota.

He said the public’s recreational fishery consequently suffered with stocks depleted and traditional recreational access decreased.

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