Trawlers ordered to install digital monitoring systems

Commercial fishers, who generate about $1.8 billion of annual exports, will have to start installing digital monitoring devices from October in a new regulatory regime which seeks to get better information to manage New Zealand’s fisheries system.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy yesterday announced new regulations that will require all trawl vessels 28m and longer to use geospatial position reporting and electronic logbooks from October this year, representing about 70 per cent of the commercial catch by volume.

All other commercial fishers will have a six-month transition period. On top of that, commercial vessels will have to start installing cameras from October next year to have them in place by April 1, 2020.

“Digital monitoring is going to revolutionise the way we make fisheries management decisions and help ensure that we are protecting the sustainability of New Zealand’s fisheries,” Guy said. “This new technology will provide more accurate and up-to-date information, allowing us to make quicker and betterinformed management decisions.”

The Ministry for Primary Industries had already started work on introducing electronic monitoring, with the current paper-based system meaning government officials were using data three to four months after the fact. That got a hurry-up last year when media reports critical of an investigation into dumping spurred the ministry to commission an external review by former solicitor-general Mike Heron, QC, which found flawed decisions and processes.

The ministry said the introduction of the cameras would let officials “verify reporting, which until now has been difficult without on-board observers, and is also expected to act as a significant deterrent to illegal behaviour”.

Digital monitoring is part of the ministry’s broader Future of our Fisheries programme, which seeks to maintain the sustainability of the sector in managing the resource. This year’s Budget allocated an extra $30.5 million over the next four years to upgrade and support the new electronic fishing management system.

The ministry expects most fishers will be able to bear the cost of installing the new equipment — estimated at between $1000 and $2000 a vessel with annual costs of up to $1000 — and cameras — estimated at $5000 to $18,000 a vessel plus annual costs of $2000. While that will probably squeeze out some operators, it is expected to more closely match their catch with all owable catch entitlement (ACE), Guy said in a Cabinet paper.

“ACE must be acquired to cover the catch of QMS [quota management system] species, or a deemed value paid,” he said “Currently, ACE is extremely hard to acquire to cover the catch of some species, and this situation creates an incentive for illegal discarding.” —

Paul McBeth