Fishing industry ‘let off the hook’ as conservation funding falls short

Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones is proposing to let fishing boats with cameras or observers shed unwanted catch at sea, as part of wider reforms he says will “boost the productivity, boost the jobs, and create more export income”.

The Government is facing legal action in the High Court, accused of under-levying the commercial fishing industry by millions of dollars.

The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) claims the Government is drastically undercharging industry, leaving a shortfall in funding for the science, monitoring, and observer services needed to protect marine life, enforce regulations and sustainably manage stocks.

In an application for a judicial review, filed in the High Court, the advocacy group says the $36.3 million industry levy for 2024/25 falls well short of the $54.2m needed to simply keep pace with inflation, despite the sector pulling in more than $2 billion in export earnings.

Observer coverage — a key safeguard for at-risk species — has collapsed, with inshore observer days plunging from nearly 2000 in 2020/21 to just 250 this year.

“Large gaps” remain in data collection, particularly around endangered species such as the hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin), its lawyers claim.

Although on-board cameras are being introduced, ELI argues they can’t replace human observers who collect biological samples, tag bycatch, identify protected species and detect seabird collisions with fishing gear, known as “warp strikes.”

However, Fisheries New Zealand says the levies are set at a level appropriate to fund monitoring and regulation, and observer coverage in deep-sea fisheries remains high.

The environmental organisation also alleges the Crown has wrongly picked up the tab for at least $3.66m in industry research over the past two years — work that, under cost recovery rules, should have been paid for by the fishing companies themselves.

That includes projects on mussel spat survival, seabird bycatch mitigation and large-scale trawl surveys, which the industry relies on to inform their fishing.

ELI calls it a “subsidy for an industry that makes millions in profit,” claiming monitoring decisions are being driven by a desire to shield the sector from rising costs.

Its legal challenge argues the Government is failing in its duty to uphold the Fisheries Act.

Hoiho numbers are declining rapidly. Photographer Kelly Lynch captured the rare penguin on the southeast coast of the South Island for her book Golden Eyes.

Matt Hall, ELI’s director of research and legal, said levies don’t reflect the services needed to meet the Fisheries Act’s core purpose: sustainable use of fishery resources.

That was affecting officials’ ability to gather critical sustainability data, he said.

“There are no observers on high-risk inshore fisheries for threatened species like the hoiho. On smaller vessels, we often have neither observers nor cameras, so we simply don’t know what’s happening.”

Department of Conservation data shows the northern hoiho population has collapsed 80% since 2008 — from 739 breeding pairs to just 143, he said.

ELI says the Government has wrongly paid the costs of numerous fisheries research projects, rather than requiring the fishing industry to pay. That includes part of the costs of large-scale trawl surveys and research on mussel spat survival and growth.

“These services are the backbone of sustainable fishing. They need to be properly resourced so that the Government can monitor and protect vulnerable marine species like dolphins, seabirds and turtles from the impacts of fishing.”

Fisheries NZ deputy director-general Dan Bolger declined to comment on ELI’s claims while the matter is before the courts.

He said the levy process ensures funding for “monitoring, science, and administrative services required to effectively regulate the commercial fishing industry.”

The fall in inshore observer days, he added, reflects the roll-out of on-board cameras, while observer coverage in deep-sea fisheries “remains high.”

Seafood NZ said it was also unable to comment while the case was underway. Fisheries Minister Shane Jones did not respond to a request for comment.