On-board cameras could put fishing industry in balance, warns Taranaki fisherman

Sunday, 9 June 2019

A Maui dolphin mother and her calf. Only 63 are known to exist in the wild.

Cameras on board commercial fishing boats may force many in the industry to sell up, a Taranaki fisherman warns.

Fisheries New Zealand announced last week that cameras will be fitted on board 20 trawlers and eight set net fishing boats plying coastal waters between Kaitaia and Whanganui from November 1.

Fisherman Ian 'Curly' Brown says money would be better spent on more scientific research into Maui dolphins deaths

The decision will affect 6-8 boats operating off the Taranaki coastline.

The cameras are being installed at a cost of $17m to gather more accurate information on critically endangered Maui's dolphin.

Fisheries observers on New Plymouth commercial fisherman Rob Ansley's boat had not recorded seeing a Maui dolphin in seven years

Taranaki commercial fishermen and processors (from left) Ian 'Curly' Brown, Keith Mawson and Caleb Mawson at Egmont Seafoods.

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The species is found in shallow coastal waters on the the North Island's west coast, mainly between Maunganui Bluff and Whanganui.

The Department of Conservation estimates there are only 63 left in the wild.

Taranaki trawlerman Ian 'Curly' Brown said the decision may be the last act to force many small operators to close down.

Brown said he was not against having cameras on board his fishing boat.

'I spend more time in my boat than in my house in New Plymouth, so having a camera on board will be like having one in my living room,' he said.

'It's just another regulation we will have to meet.

'We have recently been required to have electronic monitoring to report catches every 10 minutes, which is a cost to us.'

Brown has been in the industry for 38 years and said he had never seen a Maui's dolphin off the Taranaki coastline.

'The $17m cost is a complete waste of taxpayers' money.'

Brown had been a member of the Maui and Hector Dolphin Threat Management Group, which studied the potential effects of trawling on the species.

A commercial set netting ban up to seven nautical miles offshore has been in place off the Taranaki coast since 2012.

Boats can only fish the area if an observer is on board.

Brown said the ban had made the threat to the dolphins from fishing boats 'insignificant'.

Instead he said toxoplasmosis was more a factor behind Maui's dolphin fatalities, which will lead to their eventual extinction.

'The money being used for cameras would be better used on research diseases the dolphins are contracting,' he said.

'It's easy to blame the fishing industry and treat it like a political football but we are not harming the dolphins.

'This could be the tipping point for fishermen to leave the industry.

'We're heading the same way as the dolphins.'

Ministry of Fisheries observers have been on New Plymouth fisherman Rob Ansley's boat 'Layla' for the past seven years and had not recorded a Maui dolphin sighting, Ansley said.

Ansley, a set netter and longliner, said he allowed observers on the boat so he could show the dolphins were not in the exclusive seven nautical mile offshore zone.

He had hoped to prove fishermen could return to the fishing grounds.

He had a good relationship with the fisheries observers, he said.

'But it was like going to work with a police officer every day.

'We never saw any dolphins, but we have never been able to get our fishing grounds back as we had it before.'

Ansley said he also was not against cameras on board.

'They will only have the ability to record what is happening on the boat, not what's in the water, as observers can do.'

'It's frustrating because there seems to be a complete lack of trust between fishermen and the public.

'We work hard and provide a good, healthy food source, and we're getting slammed at every angle.'

Taranaki seafood processor and retailer Keith Mawson agreed some fishermen may leave the industry.

Mawson, who owns Egmont Seafoods, said following on from other regulations which have closed productive grounds, and increased reporting surveillance, some fishermen will think they have had enough of continual compliance.

'The fishing industry is being portrayed as the villain, especially when it came to Maui's dolphins.'

Mawson said he also was not against cameras on board.

'But where are there other workplaces where there is 24/7 monitoring by an external third party?

'There is a lot of intellectual property which fishermen have gathered over 30-40 years of fishing which will be open to anyone accessing the footage.'