Have your say on the draft Industry Transformation Plan

Deep in a cost of living crisis, do you want to see your tax money spent on funding new trawlers?

Out now for consultation is Fisheries New Zealand’s Draft Fisheries Industry Transformation Plan. This Plan sets out a vision for the next decade of NZ’s commercial seafood industry. The attempted greenwashing does little to address public concerns about bulk harvesting in inshore waters and the export of our declining fish populations – while using public money to fund the ventures.  

The Plan fails to set a deadline to phase out destructive fishing like bottom trawling, a bulk harvesting method which destroys our seafloor and the creatures on and under it. 

Part of the plan is a proposal for the public, us taxpayers, to invest over 40 million dollars in replacing small-scale fishing boats with larger vessels seeking bigger catches. This means more industrial fishing off our beaches and headlands.  

We’re in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis in recent memory. Over 90% of fish landed are exported. Using taxpayer money to subsidise the capture and export of New Zealand’s fish does nothing to help everyday Kiwis’ struggling with food security issues.

We can do better. A pragmatic alternative is for the government to buy back some of the existing quota and then lease it to small-scale fishers who can sell their catch directly to the community.  This would create a real income for the fisher and reduce the environmental impact of industrial fishing while providing an affordable food source for Kiwis. 

The fishing industry has had 37 years to make a profit and upgrade their own boats. If they haven’t generated enough profits to revitalise their own fleet, then it’s time to replace the Quota Management System.

Let’s make sure the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Rachel Brooking, knows that you refuse to subsidise industry costs for new trawl vessels. We want real transformation, now.

You can read the plan and find out more here.

Deadline:
5.00 PM, Sunday 11 June 2023