LegaSea is grateful to everyone putting in the effort to make fisheries an election issue. The collective effort has resulted in four parties having a dedicated fisheries policy, all but one railing against the Fisheries Amendment Bill, and four committed to increasing the abundance of fish.
A summary of our fisheries policy analysis is captured in our election scorecard, which is being updated regularly.
We’re celebrating because this is the first time since LegaSea’s inception in 2012 that fisheries has featured so prominently.
This success is the result of mounting public pressure since Shane Jones took the Oceans and Fisheries Ministerial portfolio. His proposals, from the Fisheries Amendment Bill to commercialising marlin and 19 reef species, have galvanised the public and provoked widespread backlash.
The topic of fisheries is so hot it has featured in political debates and local ‘meet the candidate’ events. There’s been so much activity online it’s been hard to stay across it all.
Then there’s a more targeted campaign, a petition to remove Shane Jones as fisheries Minister from the One Ocean Project. NZ Ocean News have been sharing videos, and well-known fishers such as Darren Shields have been taking politicians for a dive to show them what abundance might look like if we reformed fisheries management.
It’s important that there are multiple parties supporting positive change because in an MMP environment there is no guarantee about who will be sitting around the Cabinet table after the November 7th election.
If there are four parties in a coalition and three have said yes to transitioning away from bottom trawling, then we can expect to hold the coalition to account.
Once the parties go into coalition talks there’s not much we can do to influence their discussions, so LegaSea is encouraging everyone to maintain their efforts to raise public awareness now.
Let’s keep fisheries as an election issue, because restoring abundance and having a thriving marine environment is important to all of us.
