The Fisheries Management Area 1 policy is a document developed by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and it applies to the area between North Cape and the eastern Bay of Plenty. LegaSea is promoting this policy as a way of providing future generations the fishing opportunities and marine resources we so gratefully inherited.

Historic management has focused on single stocks such as snapper or kahawai. This Area 1 policy explains the need to rebuild productivity and diversity by considering the entire ecosystem, including humans.

Area 1 policy goal – To rebuild the inshore marine ecosystem of Fisheries Management Area 1 through diversity and abundance. 

Objectives – 

1. An ecosystem wide management approach is applied in Fisheries Management Area 1 to achieve the National Fisheries Plan’s environmental objectives of sustaining the capacity and integrity of the aquatic environment, habitats and species.
2. Double the biomass of fully exploited stocks in Fisheries Management Area 1.
3. Develop conservation strategies to maintain productivity and abundance once stock targets are reached.
4. Protect inshore benthic communities and habitats from damaging bottom-contact fishing methods including trawling.
5. Reduce juvenile mortality, unintended bycatch, and identify and rehabilitate nursery grounds.
6. Establish a cost effective fisheries independent monitoring regime to provide better estimates of fish populations and changing abundance in Fisheries Management Area 1.
7. Recognise the economic, social and cultural importance of non-commercial fishing in Fisheries Management Area 1.