Environmental lawsuits turning into a ‘blood sport’ ‒ Shane Jones

Monday, 7 July 2025

The Government is being hauled into court over claims it failed to protect deep-sea ecosystems from destructive bottom trawling ‒ and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says he’s had enough.

On Monday, the Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) will challenge the Government in the Wellington High Court over the management of orange roughy in New Zealand’s largest quota management area, known as ORH3B.

The group argues the former Minister for Oceans and Fisheries David Parker failed to meet legal obligations to safeguard the marine environment when setting catch limits, despite evidence of declining stocks and severe damage to vulnerable habitats.

But a “frustrated” Jones is signalling a dramatic response: he’s considering changing the law to limit such court action altogether.

In an interview with The Post, Jones said he had asked officials to review the Fisheries Act to determine whether it had become “weaponised” by environmental groups.

That work is part of a shakeup of how catch limits for the commercial fishing industry are set, announced in February, he said.

“The frequency of this litigious activity has caused me to explore with the officials as to whether or not the law is fit for purpose,” he said.

“We cannot have a situation where we’re outsourcing to litigants and the judiciary the statutory role of resource management on behalf of the citizens of New Zealand.”

It follows a series of legal victories by the ELI, including a successful challenge over crayfish stocks in Northland. Jones said this was now a growing “blood sport” for the legal profession and suggested environmental groups were using the courts to push for bans on commercial fishing.

“Historically, it’s been about moving the Crown to a point where it bans commercial fishing,” he said. “There is a very well-organised constituency who would rather this wild fishery industry, over time, diminished to a point of not existing.”

His remarks come after Southland National MP Joseph Mooney sought to ban climate litigation, through a member’s bill that would abolish the right to take legal action over damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

The legislation is widely seen as a response to activist Mike Smith’s landmark tort case against major emitters, to which ELI is also a party, and has been slammed by critics as an attack on the rule of law.

ELI’s case is centred on the orange roughy fishery, where trawlers drag heavy nets across the seafloor, crushing coral structures that can be thousands of years old.

ELI argues that despite a 40% cut to the total allowable catch in 2023, the Minister failed to properly consider the best available information or apply the ecosystem-based management approach required by law.

“The law is clear — the Minister must avoid, remedy, or mitigate the effects of fishing on the marine environment,” said ELI senior legal advisor Tess Upperton.

“Instead, we see a fishery that’s damaging vulnerable habitats, with declining stock levels, and decisions that don’t reflect the gravity of the ecological harm.”

A recent Department of Conservation report recorded more than 13,400 incidents of coral bycatch over the past 35 years ‒ including a single tow that hauled up six tonnes of protected stony coral from the Chatham Rise, she said.

The orange roughy ‒ which can live more than 200 years ‒ was nearly fished to collapse in the 1990s. And New Zealand is now the only country still bottom trawling for orange roughy on the high seas, a practice that has drawn criticism from Pacific neighbours.

ELI also pointed to a recent assessment from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. Last month it issued a draft “red” rating for all New Zealand orange roughy fisheries, citing critical sustainability concerns and ecosystem harm.

Jones downplayed the report, saying officials would assess its claims.

Meanwhile, consultation opened last week on further reductions to catch limits for the Chatham Rise orange roughy fishery ‒ the same area at the heart of ELI’s legal challenge.

Fisheries New Zealand says recent stock assessments show additional cuts may be necessary to meet sustainability targets, and is seeking public feedback until July 28.