Discarding unwanted fish is not a new issue. In 2016 we received a copy of the government inquiry report into commercial fishing.
The Heron Report included information from 2014, when the then MPI Director of Fisheries Management, Dave Turner, made it clear that discards were "the single biggest issue we face in our wild stock fisheries". Saying:
"Discarding is a systemic failure of the current system and something we have not been able to get on top of from day one of the QMS [Quota Management System]. Fisheries Management can't quantify the tonnages involved, but we suspect they are significant to the point that they are impacting on stocks".
The recent proposals suggest that cameras can be turned off at certain times, or they will only supply footage if you are the person in view. If the OIA process to access footage is watered down, we lose one of the only means New Zealand have to hold this industry accountable.
In the past five years, alongside our partners, The Kai Ika Project has worked incredibly hard to share over 500,000kg of previously unwanted fish heads and frames with the community. It's gutting for us all to think that the dumping of edible fish will occur when the cameras are turned off. The fishing lobby would love the off switch because the numbers emerging from these videos are too ugly to spin.
Seafood NZ recently issued a press release claiming cameras are making fishers more "vigilant," but that comes off as pure lip service. You can't just dismiss a thousand-percent increase in discards as a small oversight, and you certainly can't celebrate "vigilance" when this travesty was only exposed by cameras on boats and public access to the government report.
Shane Jones is pitching a narrative that it's all being blown out of proportion, but that's only plausible if you never see the footage for yourself. And if he gets his way with the cameras, you never will. This is the classic bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach: if no one sees the problem, maybe it'll go away. Out of sight, out of mind.
The bottom line is that our marine ecosystems need more protection, not less. Yet, the changes Shane Jones wants to make to the Fisheries Act would do the opposite: allowing cameras on fishing boats to be switched off, restricting public access to footage. Undermining the transparency that's revealed the real impact of commercial fishing. Without that accountability, we're handing the keys to an industry that's shown it can't be trusted to police itself - enabled by a minister riddled with conflicts of interest.
"Trial by TikTok"? Hardly. It's called transparency, and it's the only thing stopping them from dumping the truth overboard right alongside their unwanted catch.
Public consultation is open until March 28 so keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for more information on the proposed changes and how you can speak up.
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