Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking has only been in the role a little more than a month and her first speech was yesterday, to delegates at the Federation of Commercial Fishermen's Conference in Blenheim.
Brooking, who studied marine ecology, spoke of the importance of coastal communities and the role everyone has of caring for the marine environment whilst creating employment and supplying quality, sustainable seafood.
The Minister also acknowledged the industry had been challenged in recent years through Covid, rising costs, regulation, and difficulty in getting staff.
The UK/NZ Free Trade Agreement came into force on Wednesday and Ms Brooking says it will add $1 billion to New Zealand's GDP. For the industry, 46 percent of our seafood entering the UK in the next 12 months will be tariff free and in three years, some 99.5 percent will not face tariffs.
However, she said the benefits of the FTA will not yet be mitigating genuine hardship caused by other factors, such as marine heatwaves and wild weather through climate change. She noted the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the fishing community and said the $45 million allocated by the Government for relief for primary industries will also benefit fishers who have been affected.
The Minister acknowledged regulatory change had been coming thick and fast around managing fisheries and said dealing with these type of changes is never easy but, while New Zealand is a world leader in sustainable fisheries, we cannot rest on our laurels.
Ms Brooking says she has been pleased with the innovation she has seen in the industry so far and is encouraged at the collaboration between the sector, iwi, and NGOs that is going into the Industry Transformation Plan.
The Minister made special mention of some of the instances industry is already taking a lead on, including voluntary measures in Otago to mitigate Hector dolphin risk, and the very good work of the Pāua Industry Council of building consensus through fisheries plans.
However, there was little encouragement of any change of stance on a hot topic at the Conference, watchkeeping.
Ms Brooking says she knows the industry is grappling with the hard-line Maritime New Zealand is taking on watchkeeping rules and, while commending those who have made changes, she says the response has been mixed.
The reluctance by skippers to add extra crew to satisfy the rules has meant Government observer coverage has fallen. The Minister is urging fishers to cooperate in order to get observer coverage up, saying they support public confidence in the industry.
