Safer fishing: $40m plus

Ashift to safer fishing practices in the Maui dolphin habitat would cost the industry between $40 million and $65m, a new economic analysis suggests.

Environmental group WWFNew Zealand commissioned consultants BERL to project what it would cost for commercial fishers operating off the North Island’s west coast to transition to longlining, away from set-netting and trawling.

The two conventional fishing methods are considered a threat to the world’s rarest and smallest marine dolphin, which has dwindled to a population estimated at 63 adult individuals, and is found only off the west coast of the North Island. The authors of BERL’s report, released today, looked at different scenarios attempting to cover both the cost of transition to the fishing industry and ripple effects on sectors that supply or rely upon it.

The “pessimistic” scenario assumed revenue losses, boat refit costs and spending on a retraining package at the high end of the range. The “optimistic” scenario assumed these revenue losses, boat refits and retraining costs at the low end. BERL estimated the total net costs of the shift to longlining could range from $40.1m to $65.6m, over a three-year period. A “pessimistic” principal scenario estimated a total transition cost of just over $25m in the first year of an assumed three-year transition period, falling to just over $19.1m in the third year. The estimated cost in an “optimistic” principal scenario totalled just under $15.5m in the first year, dropping to just under $11m in the third year. For that scenario, the impact of the transition fell heavily on the fishing industry and the wider community across each of the three years. In another alternative scenario, as- suming that boats unable to shift would be replaced with ones that could, BERL projected the total net costs of a shift to long-lining could range from $41.8m to $75.3m over a three-year period.

BERL acknowledged constraints in collecting data for its report, including a “paucity” of data about the nature of existing operations.

Fishing data was collated by management areas, which did not perfectly align with the northsouth Maui dolphin range the consultancy was asked to consider, the authors noted.

Sanford and Moana New Zealand have recently announced plans to have no catching rights leased to coastal set-netters out to 100m depth north of New Plymouth from next October, and no conventional trawling within 100m depth in the Maui dolphin habitat after 2022.