March 07, 2016
Customary fishing model worth sharing
Information on New Zealand’s customary fishing regime is being shared with other nations as part of an international fisheries management conference in Auckland.
About 200 delegates from 60 countries are at the fifth Global Fisheries Enforcement Training Workshop hosted by the Ministry for Primary Industries in conjunction with the International Monitoring Control and Surveillance Network.
MPI compliance director Dean Baigent says global co-operation means there is increasingly nowhere to hide for boats and crews that deliberately plunder high seas fisheries.
He says New Zealand has some unique stories it can share.
"The needs for customary people and artisinal fisheries is not unique to New Zealand and we think we have quite a good framework to look after the needs of an indigenous people within a legislative framework that could be applied wider in the world and it's our opportunity to showcase it," he says.
Mr Baigent says in the coastal fisheries customary managers, honorary fisheries officers and the general public can all play a part in stopping organised poaching of high value species like paua and rock lobster.
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