Update on the status of New Zealand s marine fisheries.

Transcription

1 Update on the status of New Zealand s marine fisheries. Dr Pamela Mace Principal Advisor Fisheries Science New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries August 215

2 Overview Perceptions The Doom & Gloom dogma Overview of world fisheries, especially high seas Overview of fisheries in US and EU, as two examples of success Update for New Zealand, as another great example Challenges ahead for further improvements Summary and conclusions 2

3 Perceptions Lincoln University s recent Triennial Public Perceptions of New Zealand s Environment: 213 survey found that: air, native bush and forests were considered to be in the best condition, while rivers and lakes, and marine fisheries were perceived to be in the worst state and the condition of New Zealand s [land-based] native plants and animals was perceived to be adequate or good (Christchurch Press, 16 December 213)

4 DOOM AND GLOOM Soon we ll be eating jellyfish and plankton stew ''With few exceptions, we are going to lose most fisheries in the next decade if we don't quickly mend our ways,'' said Daniel Pauly, a University of British Columbia scientist who headed the study (Boston Globe report, 17 February 22)

5 The state of the world s fisheries in international waters Many depleted fish stocks o Almost all bluefin tuna stocks, plus bigeye tuna, many high seas shark species, Chilean jack mackerel, many orange roughy stocks, etc Substantial increase in high seas fishing capacity o China, South Korea, Taiwan, others o EU vessels fishing in west African waters o Overcapacity in many if not most areas

6 Exploitation status of world s major () fisheries FAO 21 report (28 data) Under-exploited 3% Moderately-exploited 12% Fully-exploited 53% Over-exploited 28% Depleted 3% Recovering from depletion 1% FAO 212 report (29 data) Under-exploited 12.7% Fully-exploited 57.4% Over-exploited 29.9% FAO 214 report (211 data) Under-fished 9.9% Fully-fished 61.3% Overfished 28.8% 6

7 US Fish Stocks Sustainability Index (FSSI) Points awarded for: Overfished status is known; overfishing status is known Not overfishing Not overfished 8% B MSY

8 Fishing mortality Stock biomass Improvement in the status of ICES stocks Fishing has generally progressed towards MSY (fishing at or below MSY) in all areas of the Northeast Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic Sea since 26. Between 26 and 214: o the number of stocks fished at MSY increased from 2 to 26 o the number of stocks inside safe biological s has risen from 11 to 21 o the number of stocks with quantitative catch advice rose from 59 to 72 Combined results for 85 major fish stocks:

9 Summary Status of New Zealand Fish Stocks to the end of 214 plus a partial update to mid-215

10 % of total landings % of total landings % of total landings % of total landings Landings ('s t) Landings ('s t) Landings ('s t) Landings ('s t) % by value % by value % by value % by value $millions by value $millions by value $millions by value $millions by value % of stocks % of stocks % of stocks % of stocks # of stocks # of stocks # of stocks # of stocks Trends in fish stock status in New Zealand: STOCK AND FISHERY STATUS INFORMATION BY NUMBERS, VALUE AND VOLUME: SOFT LIMIT HARD LIMIT OVERFISHING MANAGEMENT TARGET Overfishing Not overfishing At or above Overfishing Not 8 overfishing At or above Overfishing Not overfishing At or above Overfishing 8 Not overfishing At or above Overfishing Not overfishing At or above Overfishing Not overfishing At or above

11 % of stocks # of stocks Overall status is VERY good for stocks of known status STOCK AND FISHERY STATUS INFORMATION BY NUMBERS, VALUE AND VOLUME: SOFT LIMIT HARD LIMIT OVERFISHING MANAGEMENT TARGET 83%

12 % of landings (t) % by value ($) By value ($, port price) and volume (tonnage) of landings STOCK AND FISHERY STATUS INFORMATION BY NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL LANDINGS: SOFT LIMIT HARD LIMIT OVERFISHING MANAGEMENT TARGET 96%

13 Highlights from the 214 and 215 assessments Both hoki stocks increased in size for 8 consecutive years and have subsequently stabilised in 215 at a level above the upper end of the management range Three important orange roughy stocks have increased in size and are now near or within the management range Almost all rock lobster stocks ae performing well relative to all performance measures Almost all red gurnard stocks are at or above their management s Elephantfish around the east and south coasts of the South Island appear to have substantially rebuilt from low levels in the 198s In all cases where stocks are below the or, measures have been, or are being, put in place to rebuild the stocks

14 Fisheries research spending (Wage-corrected 1992 $, millions) Fisheries research spending Number of stocks in the QMS 25 2 Fisheries research spending (Wage-corrected to 1992 purchasing power) Green dots indicate approximate years when modest New Initiatives started

15 Stocks of known versus unknown status SOFT LIMIT HARD LIMIT OVERFISHING MANAGEMENT TARGET 35 Total # 35 Total # 35 Total # 35 Total # Total % 1 Total % 1 Total % 1 Total % The percentage of stocks of known status making up the value of landings (excluding squid is): 76% 8% 69% 74%

16 Challenges ahead for achieving further improvements (Other ways to add value and enhance our domestic and international reputation): Work creatively with the fisheries science community to develop cost-effective ways of increasing the number of stocks of known status and further enhancing management measures o Thereby enabling more of our fish stocks (including inshore stocks) to be brought into MSC and related ecocertification schemes o And thus enabling greater market access and price premiums 16

17 Summary and Conclusions New Zealand s fisheries are performing extremely well overall, at least as good as, or beyond the standard of the best in the world Overall status has become increasingly favourable since the Harvest Strategy Standard was adopted in 28 (and even more so since the QMS was introduced in 1986), and now appears to be plateauing For stocks of known status, ~ 83% are above or well above the level where sustainability issues might be a concern; this represents ~96% of landings We need to keep up the effort to align public perceptions with reality We need to acknowledge that things aren t perfect, and to show that we are striving to continually grow and improve One way to do this is to increase our research effort in order to gain knowledge about the status of more of our stocks, and to be able to demonstrate this to our markets and the rest of the world 17

18 Thank you for your attention Links to the latest Status of the Stocks summary report from MPI: To see the evaluations for individual fish stocks (up to the end of 214), go to: 18