Minister: Data won’t be public
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says the ministry has no intention to make information about individual fishing locations public.
Guy terday sponded concerns raised by Southland fishermen, who attended a meeting in Invercargill on Wednesday to discuss the implications of the new Integrated Electronic Monitoring and Reporting System.
‘‘I appreciate that these changes come at a financial cost to industry, and that is likely to be difficult for some fishers, the minister said.
However, it would be irresponsible of us to not make these changes when we know they are important to ensuring the sustainability of our fisheries,’’ Guy said.
The changes were first announced in 2015 and the ministry ran comprehensive consultation on the proposals last year.
‘‘We recognise this is a big change, which is why MPI is now closely consulting with the fishing industry on the rollout to deal with their concerns.
‘‘In June this year, MPI established an Implementation Advisory Group with representatives from the fishing industry to work on the implementation of IEMRS.
‘‘This involves numerous meetings with industry groups including those representing fishers from Southland. We want to work closely with industry before this begins to hear their concerns and make it work.
One of the main concerns Southlanders had was privacy issues involving data transmitted from cameras, e-reporting and position reporting.
However, Guy said: ‘‘Position information will be secure, and MPI has no intention to make information about individual vessels’ fishing locations public.’’ yesreto