WHY?

We run a post saying that current Te Ohu Kai Moana chair Ngahiwi Tomoana was about to be rolled and on Friday it was made official. Blogger - the platform that runs our blog got tangled up in some Google maintenance issues and was broken for much of Friday and Saturday so hence we could not update.

The TOKM trustee company is essentially the legal repository for all Maori fish assets.

Te Kawai Taumata, the Electoral College whose role is to appoint directors to Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited, has appointed three new members and re-appointed one existing member to the board.

Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited is the corporate trustee for Te Ohu Kai Moana, the Maori Fisheries Settlement Trust and the Takutai Trust - the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Settlement Trust. Directors are appointed to four year terms.

The Chair of Te Kawai Taumata, Naida Glavish, a former Commissioner on the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission, said the decision on who to appoint to the board was difficult because there were a number of excellent candidates who offered a mix of sound business and commercial skills and commitment to tikanga Maori.

The new directors are:

Mr Matiu Rei, the Executive Director of Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira;

Ms Hinerangi Raumati, currently an alternate director of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited, a trustee for the Public Trust and recently appointed the Chief Financial Officer for Te Wananga o Aotearoa; and

Mr Jamie Tuuta, Ngati Mutunga, a self-employed business consultant.

The directors replace the late Sir Archie Te Atawhai Taiaroa, Hon Koro Wetere, who is retiring, and Mr Ngahiwi Tomoana, the current chairman.

Current director, Mr Rikirangi Gage, the chief executive of Te Whanau a Apanui, was reappointed for a second four-year term.

Ms Glavish thanked Mr Wetere and Mr Tomoana for their service and commitment to the Maori seafood industry. "Maori own or influence almost half of New Zealand's commercial fishing industry, have sole interest in our country's customary fisheries and are active recreational fishers. They are also increasingly involved in aquaculture. Through Koro and Ngahiwi's constructive, collaborative leadership over the years, Maori involvement in the fishing industry has been strengthened considerably."

The sole function of Te Kawai Taumata is to appoint and remove the directors of Te Ohu Kai Moana Trustee Limited. It is made up of 11 members appointed by 10 regional groupings of iwi and one member on behalf of Representative Maori Organisations.

Te Kawai Taumata Members are: Naida Glavish (Chairman) representing Taitokerau; Na Raihania (Deputy Chairman) Takitimu; Graeme Morrell, Ngapuhi; Chris McKenzie, Tainui; Willie Emery, Te Arawa Waka; Tamati Cairns, Mataatua; Api Mahuika, Porourangi; Sam Tamarapa, Hauauru; Ngarongo Iwikatea Nicholson, Te Moana o Raukawa; Maui Solomon, Waipounamu/Rekohu; Sharyn Watene, Representative Maori.

There is huge discontent about the way Maori Fisheries assets are being handled. We have received a number of emails on the issue that indicate that Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd, the company that holds all the fisheries companies and Sealords may see some changes on their boards.

Maori are one of the big three in fishing now along side Talleys and Sanfords. The industry is worth about $1.4 billion a year. In any other comparable industry of this size there would be journalists all over this story as it has ramifications for all Maori and indeed all New Zealanders.

ON THE SAFE SIDE

Well, we have the start of what appears to be a decline in blue cod stocks in Southland but some fishermen are upbeat about the state of the flatfish stocks. Flatfish took a hammering a few years back and as a result the quota was cut considerably. Its estimated that the flat fish Total Allowable catch is worth about the same as Blue Cod - $35million.

However, while fishermen in Riverton think that a couple of good years means that the quota should be up for review, a fishermen for whom we have enormous respect, John Young (aka Bunyion) isnt so sure. He is happy to take a wait and see approach. We agree. Its takes a good five years to work out any meaningful patterns in stock rebuilds.

And if there is an increase in numbers of fish and the quality is right up there - then dig in. flat fish from the deep south especially the big meaty flounders and brill, are significantly better eating than the insipid almost translucent tiny flounders often served in in Wellington fish shops.

And the best way to eat flounder? On the bone. Dusted with season flour, pan fried in butter and served with a beurre blanc.

And wine? A nice dry reisling - Johners would do nicely.

A HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE

A mate sent us this -  the southern oceans at their raw and powerful best......   Next time you think you pay too much for fish  - remember these pics.

A TEASER - THE MEURANT CHRONICLES

Its August 1999 - A bitter winter chills the National Party as they face the prospect of losing the looming election.

Ross Meurant is working for Philip Vela. Vela is one of the great pioneers of the New Zealand Deep Sea Fishery - he is a big man who likes getting his own way fast. He is a heavy weight in the Fishing Industry Association the FIA - the big quota owners of the industry. The FIA was to have been dissolved with the formation of the inclusive Seafood Industry Council ( Seafic.) However they don't and for a while there is an internal war within the Seafood industry for power.

Meurant, employed specifically to get traction on some big ticket policy items for Vela reports on his progress each week. We have copies of those reports and screeds of other correspondence on a number of issues, about fishing, tax, the Rodney district council and other stuff like the insiders guide to NZ First. More on that soon.

The job Meurant was tasked to do for Vela was what became known as the " UN fish issue" a crap piece of legislation that put New Zealand flagged vessels at a disadvantage. Seafic was lobbying on the same issue.

So Meurant lobbied , as he was paid to do for Vela - the Leader of United NZ Peter Dunne to vote against the bill and the contentious UN clause.

Dunne, on the 16th of August 1999 states the Meurant position in a press release and calls on the government to " think again" on the bill.

However, Meurant gets sidetracked and instead of just lobbying politicians on the issue he takes a crack at a couple of the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council senior staff. In an effort to curry favour, he tells his boss he is going to discredit some of the Seafic staff knowing it will be music to Vela's ears.

From the Meurant report dated 22 August 1999

"In respect of my feeding a "scare" into the system i.e making it known that I have material on both ( John) Valentine ( the then CE of Seafic) and (Tony ) Craig (the then head of policy and strategy) relating to their competence and integrity respectively, this is just to remind them they don't have all the muskets. A calculated initiative you might speculate, but I don't have anything to lose. "

His final note at the end of the report is this:

Note: I appreciate it is not my money I am dealing with when I make suggestions such as follows but I do believe that there is much merit in providing Peter Dunne with $5000 towards his election campaign fund. It would be helpful for me on Wednesday if I were in a position to advise him that a donation had been approved.

Who said politician was not a dirty word!

Dunne was paid the $5000 in October 1999. Despite putting out the press release he eventually voted for the bill.

Dunne denied being paid for policy to both to the Dominion and in this curious interview he did with local journalism students on the issue.

For the record we worked with both Valentine and Craig. They are both highly competent and men of integrity.

Is there more? - yes.

STEAK OF ORIGIN AND THE GLAMMIES

There are two very important competitions coming up that showcase the best produce in NZ. Interestingly its not about organic or boutique type products - instead its about finding the best meat in the land - There is a bit of science and a bit of subjective tasting by a celeb tasting panel .

Well known Southland chef and beef and lamb ambassador Graeme Hawke has penned a fine article in the Southland Times on the two competitions - the Glammies for Lamb and the Steak of Origin for Beef, which are fast becoming the food Oscars of the primary sector. The competitions are run by Beef and Lamb NZ .We would love to see the beef and lamb from the Chathams and Ruapuke in the Competitions, the meat from both these islands has a unique taste we believe would be a marketers dream just as salt marsh lamb is in Britain .


Its a pity that the Seafood Industry doesn't do something similar.

A BETTER MAN

We watched today as a man who we had a huge amount of respect for, faltered and fell on his sword at what he saw was public condemnation for a minor infringement. Phil Heatley is a good man, a family man, a great father, a good husband and Minister the fishing industry had grown to respect.

We have met him a couple of times and there were those in the fishing industry who sought our advice of what sort of Minister he would be.

Straight and true, we said. Give him a logical argument and he will give you a logical decision.

So today, we lost that good Minister over a small mistake.

We got a call from a mate up north who said they were devastated - not for what he had done but the fact that he had resigned. He commands a lot of respect in his home patch.

We think it was a mark of the man that he made the decision to put his family ahead of his public office and the public glare that goes with it.We have a feeling that his resignation today was done purely to protect those matter most to him.

For that he will always have our respect.


We hope he does come back to the fold and sits in a Ministerial seat again. The seafood industry could do with his pragmatism and the country would be well served by a man of humility.

He is a better man.

TINOPAI KAIMOANA

We are still drooling... We went to the Wellington trawlers new fish market on Lambton quay today and in the window was one of our favourite seafood treats. Hapuka throats and cheeks. $15.95 a kilo they are . There is bugger all bone in them and they were pinky fresh.. A young eastern European chick asked me what I was buying and I told her they were the best buy in the shop..
" Do they have bones,? she asked, yes we told her - but not many. She bought what I didn't. For $5 dollars we got enough to fill us to the gunnels.

I cut them up a bit and then chopped up a white onion finely , drizzled them in olive oil and some light herbs, then added a splash of water and a good grind of salt and pepper and then baked them quick in a hot oven.

The meat is unbelievably sweet and all gluey.

Absolute bliss...

FISHY FRIENDS

We have been watching the Mataitai issue with interest. We have predicted that this is the next Foreshore and Seabed issue.

Now lets go back to the reasons for the fisheries settlement - It was all about putting Maori on an equal footing as per the treaty and giving them an economic share.

Now Maori are saying that Mataitai are being put in place to ensure that local hapu can get a feed of fish. Yip that's what they negotiated with the Crown at the time of the settlement. Can't really argue with that now.

But the fisheries settlement was really all about ensuring that Maori got a slice of the economic fishpie. The Mataitai were a clip on as customary take was enshrined at the time to ensure Maori could take a feed.

So if the Maitaitai are put in places where Maori are actually fishing for profit then that is a simple travesty for two reasons. One it goes against the original intentions of Mataitai which was for small discrete areas for Maori family and secondly it undermines the economic benefits that Maori get from being a big part of the commercial fishing industry.

The Seafood Industry needs all parties to play a part.

But the tectonic plates of rights appear to have shifted and nowhere is that more evident that with Maitaitai.

The simple fact of the matter is if the ultra PC Ministry of Fisheries and the Uber PC department of Conservation continue to support and grant Mataitai the size of sheep stations then there is serious cause for concern and an impact on the economy.

Maitaitai are being used, not to manage fisheries resources, but to lock out commercial interests.
Recreations fishers love Mataitai because the way they see it - it locks out there arch enemy - commercial fishers.

Recreational fishers are the bastards who believe they have all the rights but take no responsibility. For decades they have sat outside the Fisheries management regime and bleated but have done little to contribute to the sustained management of our seafood resources. The recreational fishers groups ( who really hate Maoris and used to be the most racist bunch of pricks around) have formed an unholy alliance with Maori to propagate Mataitai around the country. Venal and hypocritical wankers that they are. And Maori have been taken in - hook, line and sinker.

However ,we understand that some of the finest legal beagles in the Seafood industry reckon the interpretation of the Mataitai regs is flawed and are shaping up to take the fight to the courts.

There are 10 Mataitai in existence and 37 in the pipeline.


This is an issue all New Zealanders should be watching closely. Nothing is surer - it's is going to get very, very ugly.

MATAITAI MIGHT TIE MAORI IN KNOTS

We have it on good authority that commercial fishing interests are considering a legal challenge over Mataitai. These are supposed to be small discreet areas set aside for customary harvest for Maori. Maori have the management authority over these marine areas.

There are two issues. the Mataitai are not so discreet - the areas applied for are getting much larger than the " feed " areas they were originally designed for.

Secondly, there is a groundswell of opinion in the fisheries legal ranks that the legislation has been wrongly interpreted by Maori and that they cannot exclude commercial fishing.

If what we are hearing is correct then we could see a shit fight that is as big as the Foreshore and Seabed debate.

HOOKED ON BULLSHIT

Sometimes it is important to comment on some of the wacky and emotive crap the Green party puts into the public arena.

We love Hooker Sealions. They are very cool. We also love the Seafood industry and sad as it maybe some sealions will die as we harvest seafood. We need a regime that ensures minimal deaths but ensures the seafood harvest is sustained.

Up until now the regulations have been based on spurious science and emotion. That is changing and its pissing off the Greens.

So we indulge in not fishing - but fisking..

Government leaves sea lions to fend for themselves

Press Release by Green Party at 3:42 pm, 11 Aug 2009

Today's Government decision to abandon the sea lion Population Management Plan (PMP) leaves the species high and dry, and moves them a step closer to extinction.

There is no evidence that the population is heading toward extinction under the current management regime. The PMP would have set a regime (called MALFiRM) that may not have been substantially different from the current Fishing Related Mortality Limit (FRML); MFish would still have implemented the MALFiRM, as it does the FRML.

"It is bitterly disappointing that the Government has ditched one of the best tools we have in the law to protect a threatened marine mammal like the New Zealand sea lion," said Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei.

The sea lion PMP has limitations about what about what it can achieve; it still sets an annual limit for MFish to implement. Other statutory tools like marine mammal sanctuaries remain available in the absence of a PMP.

The Department of Conservation today announced that it has produced a 'species management plan' (a generic set of guidelines) and dropped the 'Population Management Plan' (a legal plan under the Marine Mammals Protection Act) that the public submitted on.

What a bloody good idea.

"Without a population management plan, the Government decision on how many sea lions can be 'sustainably' killed this coming season will be made under the Fisheries Act rather than our marine protection laws," said Mrs Turei.

So what? The Ministry still administers it.

"This decision shows how important it is to fix our marine protection laws, and how irresponsible it was for the National Party to vote against my recent bill to do just that."

What crap The current approach has the support of most stakeholders.

The Green Party's Marine Animal Protection Law Reform Bill was voted down by the National Party late last month sparking an outcry from environment groups.

Indeed. It was a crap piece of legislation - all rhetoric - no common sense.

"The continued decline of our sea lion shows that the marine sanctuaries and reserves around its breeding grounds are insufficient," said Mrs Turei. "We need a strong plan that will actually protect them."

What utter bullshit. Our muttonbird island is a classic example numbers have remained steady for over 20 years. And the cause of the supposed decline is unknown but is very unlikely to be caused by the direct effect of fishing. Marine reserves cannot be extended beyond the territorial sea of the Auckland Islands, and the option of extending the marine mammal sanctuary remains available under the current legislation even without a PMP. The PMP would have set a regime (MALFiRM) that would have been implemented by MAF if it considers it’s appropriate after looking at all relevant factors.

"Sea lion mums killed at sea result in pups onshore being left to starve when mum doesn't return."

Yup, sometimes, its ugly to watch but thats life and death. and remember deaths at sea can occur as a result of natural events, not just fishing. Whales are a main predator.

72 sea lions were presumed killed by the fishery at the close of the 2008/9 fishing season.

True they are presumed killed, but almost certainly a vast overestimation of actual deaths. During the heaviest part of the squid fishing season over 50% of boats carried official observers. Only four sea lion deaths were reported (two by boats carrying observers and two by boats that weren’t carrying observers). So the extrapolation of figures is the absolute worst case scenario laced with a good dollop of emotive crapola.

The New Zealand sea lion was declared a threatened species under the Marine Mammals Protection Act in 1997. It is the rarest sea lion in the world.

Give us a break. It was always a small discrete population. Its at the top of the food chain and there is never huge populations of anything at the top of the food chain - marine biology 101.

Natural vulnerability to disease is amplified by sea lions killed in interactions with fishing vessels. It is estimate that 700 adults have been killed by Sub-Antarctic squid trawlers in the past decade.

The 700 estimate may be about right assuming 70 per year, but that of course is 70 assumed deaths under the FRML – remember that with significant observation of the fishery this year only four sea lion deaths were actually confirmed, two on observed boats and two reported by unobserved boats.

In the absence of a Population Management Plan, fishing-related deaths of sea lions will be managed by the Ministry of Fisheries, leaving the Department of Conservation to manage other aspects under a weak non-statutory plan.

True, but a classic straw man statement: nothing has changed; whatever the regime it would have been managed by the Ministry of Fisheries. so we reckon all in all a good move by the government. Rational and reasonable. - a far cry from the emotive driven legislation we have seen in the past decade.

OBSERVER PROGRAMME ENDANGERED?

We blogged on the silliness of the three year observer programme for Hectors dolphins that has landed two southern fishing boats in hot water.
Its a safety issue and the two skippers in question have made a stand. No dolphins were caught the first season. The word is that if there are no dolphins caught this year then the third year of the programme could be scrapped.

What a bloody good idea that would be.

SEALORDS - YIP - DUMB AND DUMBER.

The battery on our blackberry is flat today and it relates to the Sealords story. The general consensus in the New Zealand Seafood Industry is that Sealords have made a dumb decision to sell down the whanaunui pounamu - the aquaculture rights to marine farms in Marlborough to Sanfords. One very well placed industry source put it this way.

The golden rules are: -

1) If Eric Barratt or Peter Talley want something - you shouldn't be selling.

2) If Eric buys it - you sold too cheap.

Spot on.

KORU CLUB FOOD IS CRAP

We are sitting in the Koru lounge in Auckland and we have to say that the food is absolute crap. Mass produced cheese cake, a sweet and sour thing and rice - that can only be described as a sweet and sour thing. The salads are dead, limp - well past rigor mortis, the bread rolls are stale and they have beetroot in some mayonnaise! What is that about. It is 6pm - no cheese and crackers. Now we paid $495 for our membership this year. But its not likely we will pay that again next year - the food has been getting progressively worse.. Will need to drink wine , lots of it to make up for the crap food.

To top matters off we are are constantly reminded of the recession - the lounge is about half full at peak hour. It is so slow that the woman who mans the coffee kiosk saw an empty coffee cup by me and asked if I would like another.I told her it wasnt mine, then she asked me if I would like a nice drink anyway. Service with a lovely smile, shame about the tucker.

And the is no decent eye candy - all the good looking bronzed gods who used to frequent the lounge have obviously gone to the wall.

However Wellington will get a big cash injection this week - the NZ Seafood conference is being held in the capital -
It is being opened by the PM , its been a few years since that happened. the industry is doing okay despite the rough seas of the international money markets. We are also please to see they are still holding the seafood debates. Take BB's word for it, they are famous for being unpc and very funny!

CAPTAIN ERIC AWASH WITH CASH

While generally the Seafood industry is doing very well in the international arena Sanfords is leading the pack. Company CE Eric Barratt has been a champion of the Korean market for quite some time and now it is paying off.

We did hear a rumour that they were selling their mussels a bit cheap though, much to the chagrin of the rest of the market. Does this mean that Sanfords is looking to buy some mussel farms here in good old NZ?

It is good to see some fleet rejeuvenation as well. In the last few years there hads been a , sell down of, at sea assets across the NZ seafood industry.

Rock Lobster is another market doing ok as well.

Some very big shiny new boats in the Bluff fleet.

FINALLY

We blogged on the Ministry of Fisheries 2030 strategic fisheries report a few weeks ago. Today the Herald reports that we maybe only months away from seeing a consent granted for a huge Aquaculture farm in the Coromandel.

That is fantastic news, Aquaculture has enormous potential to earn millions of dollars in export.

QUALITY CONTROL NEEDED AT WORK AND INCOME

A fishing firm is a bit gobsmacked with the calibre of the CV's they were given by WINZ when they were looking for workers.

Now you would think that WINZ would at least take a look at the CV's.

So imagine the companies disgust when they got a CV from a dork who listed his interests as tagging, caps beanies and vises(sic) .
You guessed it - he still hasnt got a job.

NO JOKE

We broke this story a couple of days ago
A Ministry of Fisheries observer plays what he thinks is a prank by telling his boss a "fresh arm" has been found in the trawl net of the vessel he was on. It sparked off a chain reaction with police starting the process for a search and rescue.
- and the Southland Times has followed up today.
Silly bugger.

AQUACULTURE POISED TO HELP TURN THE TIDE ON JOB LOSSES

Now this is the type of story we want to see more of. Proactive councils untangling red tape all in the name of creating an environment for businesses to expand. It is this type of central and local government action that will really grow the economy. The Waikato Times says that The three councils involved in the Coromandel are looking at the ways they can facilitiate the growth of Aquaculture in their areas.

Councils up and down the country should be looking to replicate what is happening in the Coromandel. Aqauculture is a seriously under deveoped industry and both central and local governments should do all they can to promote its rapid growth.

• The Coromandel Peninsula mussel industry employs 400 people.
• Existing mussel farms have waited for 13 years to expand.
• Cutting red tape could allow it to expand to employ another 600 people by 2014.
• Mussel production could rise from 22,000 tonnes to 60,000 making the industry worth up to $122million.

FISH FLYING HIGH

Some of them anyway. Stuff reports that fish exporters are doing ok out there on the stormy seas of international trading.


Fishing exporters are in good heart with high prices, a low exchange rate and cheap fuel but further rationalisation is inevitable as the industry's biggest firms seek more efficiencies.

Yip, Nick Churchhouse ( now theres a good looking journo - we reckon he will be snapped up by TV soon) is right about rationalisation. Word is that Sealords and Sanfords may end up as one within five years.

Seafood prices globally have jumped more than 50 per cent in the past year, according to the ANZ commodity price index, and with a kiwi dollar worth more than 30 per cent less, the immediate future is rosy.

Yip - Rock lobster isn't the only million dollar catch. Paua is another good one and with the recent buy out of a large chunk of paua quota Aotearoa Fisheries is well placed to reap the benefits of this well managed fishery in the future.

Deep Water Group chief executive George Clement, representing the large fishing companies that fish New Zealand's deep water fisheries, said catch rates were up in key stocks like hoki.

George is one of the good guys and smarter than a smart thing to boot.

Sustainable management of the fish stocks was working and New Zealand was earning a premium price for having a reliable and consistent supply of fish. Statistics New Zealand said the asset value of New Zealand's commercial wild catch fish resource was almost $4 billion, up 45 per cent from $2.7b in 1996.

A fishing industry analyst said there was growing demand for fish around the world, and stocks had not been able to keep up even with the growth of aquaculture.

With prices going up as a result and northern hemisphere fisheries starting to feel the bite of decades of fisheries mismanagement, New Zealand was in a good position.

"In many parts of the world the industry has been suicidally short-term and overfished its resources. We've had the quota management system, while it has its occasional critics, has done a good job of protecting our fisheries resources."

The jury is out on this one. Its good in the inshore but its doesnt allow for serial depletion and it has some major flaws when applied to the deep sea fisheries.

Seafood buyers in Europe were struggling to gain credit to pay for orders late last year, dropping demand markedly before it rebounded.

High-end products had taken a hit as restaurants and luxury seafood markets were affected by the economic downturn.

"But the industry dynamics are sufficiently attractive; demand has for many years outstripped supply," he said.

Yes but Europe is still to feel the full brunt of the economic tsunami and the arse could fall out of things there very quickly.

Fishing giant Sealord's announcement that it would chop 180 jobs at a Nelson processing plant in favour of processing at sea was part of a larger strategy. "The challenge ahead is that we have an industry that is characterised as being labour intensive, capital intensive and energy intensive," Mr Clement said.

We agree- there is more rationalisation needed and more to come.

Sealord was predicted to make a profit of $20 million in the year to June but despite the positive indicators of price and demand, those three factors continued to cost more.

The Deep Water Group was working to reduce the capital invested in ships out fishing, evident from the reduction in the orange roughy and oreo fleet south of Wellington to three boats. "Those boats are large, higher catch rates, well run, lower energy use, lower environmental impact because there are fewer trawls. They are at sea about 340 days a year; there is nobody in the world doing that," Mr Clement said.

Yip we are world leaders - no doubt about that but there is still room for improvement.

SEAFOOD INDUSTRY RISES TO THE CHALLENGE.

First we had new Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley raising the allowable by catch levels of Sealions for the NZ squid industry - We thought that was great - then came the news that pup numbers had dropped off this year.

So because they were treated like adults the seafood industry reacted like adults and this is the result

27 January 2009 - Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley and Ministry of Fisheries Chief Executive Wayne McNee have today congratulated the squid fishing industry on their responsible approach to today's announcement by the Department of Conservation of a 30% fall in the number of sea lion pups.
The Deepwater Group (representing the majority of squid quota owners) has announced the squid fishing industry will respond to this decline by voluntarily reducing fishing activity in the Auckland Islands squid fishery as an interim measure for the 2009 fishing season. This measure effectively reduces the sea lion fishing related mortality limit from 113 to 95 sea lions.
"When I became aware of this decline in sea lion pup numbers I requested that the squid fishing industry consider voluntarily reducing the sea lion fishing related mortality limit," said Mr Heatley.
"I am very pleased the squid fishing industry has responded by taking a responsible and cautious approach.
"Their willingness to work with me and the Ministry of Fisheries to minimise the risk to sea lions is most gratifying," he said.
Mr McNee said with the Auckland Islands squid fishery due to open this weekend a voluntary reduction was the most effective way to respond quickly and responsibly to the new information.
The Department of Conservation says the latest research on sea lion populations in the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands provisionally shows a 30% fall in the number of sea lion pups and a reduction in the number of female sea lions coming ashore.
It is not known what is causing this decline but DOC scientists on the Auckland Islands are carrying out further research.
"While we are confident this decline is not being caused by fishing, we need to take these figures into account and make sure that the impact of fishing is particularly well managed" said Mr McNee.

Good stuff, we say - a win for everyone.

Word has it that the industry is pretty happy with their Minister so far - and a few of the industry wags have suggested that his press secretary is a "good un." It is expected that his extensive knowledge of wine will be of benefit at future seafood dinners.

And still on matters seafood.

The industry is doing a bit of rationalisation - with about 26 industry groups it was all getting a bit hard for SEAFIC to manage. The inshore boys met today to discuss ways of doing things better. Well done.