An important part of what we do at Seafood New Zealand is reducing protected species captures. We work closely with government, industry and directly with fishers to minimise our impact on taonga species.
Some might not know this, but we have a new full-time staff member dedicated to this work for the inshore sector. His name is Dave Goad, and while fairly new to the Seafood New Zealand team, he's no stranger to the seafood sector.
Dave has been working in the mitigation and protected species space for over 15 years and is a familiar face to many. Earlier in his career, he spent some time fishing and also worked as an observer - so knows firsthand the challenges fishers face out on the water.
"I was keen to join Seafood New Zealand as I think working for industry provides the opportunity to get things done efficiently," says Dave. "We all want to see fewer protected species harmed, and I'm keen to help fishers do the best they can to minimise risk at sea."
When asked about the challenges of balancing sustainable fishing with species protection, Dave says he thinks the biggest challenge has shifted.
"Historically I would have said uncertainty, but cameras have changed that. With this new data, which is released publicly every quarter on the MPI website, we know what we're dealing with. We can now manage the problem rather than what we estimate the problem to be."
These days, he believes the real challenge lies in communicating the science clearly, both within the industry and to the public.
"A huge amount of effort is put in to understand how susceptible or 'at risk' different species are and then ensuring we are having minimal impact at the population level.
"For example, DOC researchers spend a lot of time and effort (often in conditions not unlike fishers) counting and estimating seabird population sizes," says Dave. "Along with fishing effort and captures, these numbers get fed into a model to tell us where we need to focus our efforts most. The bottom longline fleet in Area 1 is a good example of where this process has driven huge progress over the last 10 years."
Dave also has a message about fishers - saying they are greatly under-appreciated: "Fishers are out there in the elements working hard to put healthy food on the table with minimal impact on the environment. The impact isn't always zero, but we have good systems in place to keep it as close to zero as possible. We should be happy to eat New Zealand fish."
So, what is Dave working on right now?
"I'm looking at having more involvement in responding to captures, in conjunction with the Department of Conservation's protected species liaison programme. I'm working on getting data sharing agreements in place with fishers so we can access fishers' electronic reports on protected species captures, meaning that we can respond faster, understand what happened, and work with the fisher to see if there is more they could be doing to avoid protected species interactions."
Dave is also working with fishers on a plan to minimise interactions with turtles in the surface longline fishery. This will lay out an industry-led response for different scenarios, prior to the fishing season starting.
For Dave, working with fishers to improve mitigation at sea is a pretty rewarding job. "It's the accumulation of little wins that stick and make a difference," he says.
Speaking of wins, Seafood New Zealand will be talking about some of the protected species wins at the 2025 Seafood New Zealand Conference in Whakutū Nelson next week, including work done by the surface longline fleet to avoid seabird capture and work to minimise Hector's dolphins interactions including the use of acoustic deterrent devices and voluntary closed areas.
Back to Dave, like most people in our industry, when not at work you'll find Dave with his family, usually out on the water or at the beach. He's always happy to talk all things fishing and the ocean. So, if you haven't met Dave yet and will be at conference next week - make sure you go and say hi.
