Thursday 19 March 2009

FISHERIES RED TAPE IN FOR THE CHOP

This morning we listened to RNZ and heard a yarn on the Price Waterhouse Coopers 2030 report which takes a long term view of New Zealand fisheries in an interview with Phil Heatley.

Heatley is shaping up to be a good Minister of Fisheries and he has a commercial focus. This report underpins that.

There are two main points for us - that the industry is severely over regulated. There are 8000 regulations governing fisheries. Well placed sources tell us we will see some action soon on trimming some of the myriad of superfluous rules and regs.
The second issue, which Heatley highlighted this morning, is that while the industry is considered to be a world leader because there is a high level of reporting from the commercial sector - that is not replicated in the customary or the recreational sectors. Heatley wants to tackle that too.
Yee bloody ha, we say , about time.
With rights come responsibilities and customary and recreational fishers need to help this country build up its knowledge bank on fish stocks.
We also understand that Rodney's red tape squad will be tacking fisheries - that's a damn good thing. If you want to see red tape follow the paper trail for rock lobster from the pot to the plate. We will be keeping a close watch on progress.

Attached is the PWC report
MFishFisheries2030ReportRevised Final 19Feb

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