Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Loss: Fix Our Fisheries Now - Ferris

Our oceans and the resources that are bound in our moana are a precious resource to all of the people in Aotearoa, and the people of Te Tai Tonga have some serious reflections to consider.

What the people need at this point in time with regard to the reforms and what they expect out of a Minister, is to put the people’s interests first. To have the people’s needs foremost: sustainability, kaitiakitanga, and the longevity of the kaimoana, the moana, and its resources at the heart of regulations, as we consider how to preserve those things going into the future. To ensure that our tamariki and mokopuna have got kaimoana in the moana going into the future—that’s not something that we can just hope will materialise; we have to be intentional.

What we don’t need is a Minister who puts the interests of the commercial crowd in the front—short-term gain and short-term profit over long-term sustainability and leaving something for the future. Unfortunately, the reforms that are before Parliament failed to address the root cause of our declining fisheries: namely overfishing, over allocation, destructive fishing practises that have persisted for far too long. And in the meantime, instead, he’s chosen to privilege these practises and risk worsening the problem; leaving a mess for our tamariki and our mokopuna to pick up and clean as we move forward. So we can’t afford to put short-term financial gain ahead of the long-term sustainability of our moana.

For decades now, our fish stocks have been in decline—serious decline. The evidence is undeniable. If we think about our deep-sea species like hoki and orange roughy, they have almost been pushed to the brink of extinction. Our local fish in the South Island; the blue cod fishery in peril, right now, as we speak.

We think about things closer to everyone around the country; our scallops, our pāua, our crayfish have all been in decline for years and we have failed to take the steps to look after their longevity and ensure that they are there for the future. As we continue down this road, many of these species are being completely closed off. Scallops: off the menu; crayfish: off the menu. This is the reality for many places in the country, and it’s time for us to wake up. We must take steps that look after our fish stocks and leave something better for the future. Not just dwindling stocks; thriving stocks—this is what our children and our grandchildren deserve.

Yet here we are, giving more fish to commercial interests, making it easier for them to catch more with less oversight, blocking camera footage on boats, legalising the dumping of fish. All of these things only serve to undermine the fish stocks that we currently have. Allowing quota to be carried over for successive years; thinking that somehow a stock is going to miraculously recover itself—I tell you: it is a recipe for disaster. And not to mention the proposal of removing minimum size limits, catch limits for commercial fishing—I tell you: we really need to get back to the drawing board.

All the while, the Minister has managed to ignore the Māori customary rights and ignore the recreational interests. Those are the people’s interests. Whilst the Minister might also talk and speak about the prevalence of the use of scientific data and the management of the stock, it’s been that same scientific management that has got us into the predicament we’re in right now.

I doubt that it will be that same scientific management that will get us out. In fact, it could be time for some tangata whenua management. There are plenty of examples all around the country—all around the country. So rather than prioritising short-term commercial and financial gain, we need to make sure that there’s true transparency across the industry, that our children’s legacy, that our grandchildren’s legacy are looked after. It’s our tamariki and mokopuna who stand to lose the most under the current reforms.

So Te Tai Tonga has a simple message for the Minister: leave some fish for the mokos, Shane—leave some fish for the mokos. That’s the message from Te Tai Tonga: be a good kaitiaki—be a good kaitiaki.

Māori have always stood in our power as kaitiaki and we will always look after the resource. We have to do better. We have to ensure that our people have access and that the resources are left in better condition than the one that we inherited. Kia ora tātou.