QMS FAQs

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Why are only 56% of targeted species assessed?

November 2, 2020 Because there is a lack of available research funding. The system is set up so that quota holders have a major influence on where the research funding is spent. This means that research funding is targeted towards fish stocks that may deliver greater catch limits, not necessarily the fish stocks that are depleted (in trouble) ... Read more.
QMS

Who performs the research?

November 2, 2020 Approved service providers or commercial fishers or their agents, if they are funding a particular project.
QMS

Who pays for stock assessment research?

November 2, 2020 Fisheries New Zealand pays for stock assessment research and may collect levies from quota owners as part payment, depending on the stock. Quota owners sometimes pay for research if they consider there is development potential in a particular fishery
QMS

How is the QMS obscuring the facts?

November 2, 2020 The Quota Management System is the framework that determines how our fish stocks are managed. The system is set up so that quota holders have a major influence on where the research funding is spent. This means that research funding is targeted towards fish stocks that may deliver greater catch limits, not necessarily the fish ... Read more.
QMS

How are dead fish accounted for in management decisions?

November 2, 2020 When setting total catch limits for a particular fishery, the Minister of Fisheries sets aside a tonnage of fish to allow for the mortality caused by all fishing. This could be fish killed by trawling and other methods, fish that drop out of nets and unseen mortality, fish that die after fishing has occurred. This ... Read more.
Fisheries Management | QMS

Why do you say that Māori only own around 10.7% of the total quota share value when they actually own more than 40% of all quota?

May 29, 2020 Independent analysis by the NZ Institute of Economic Research shows that on the information available Māori own around 40% of quota shares (by volume) but only 10.7% of the total quota share value. This is a conservative estimate of iwi ownership and value because not all the relevant details are available; that is understandable given ... Read more.
Rescue Fish | Customary Fisheries | Fisheries Management | QMS | Economics | Fishing

Why hasn’t the Government accepted the dire state of fisheries and done something about it before?

May 22, 2020 It is convenient for the Government to believe that the Quota Management System is the best way of managing fisheries. Also, because the quota owners have formed a powerful lobby that stridently protects its monopoly market position. This lobby has its own scientists and experts who maintain that the QMS cannot be dismantled because the ... Read more.
Fisheries Management | QMS

Why are only a few corporate businesses benefiting from a resource that belongs to all New Zealanders?

May 22, 2020 Because 78% of quota shares are now owned by 10 entities.The resource rentals that initially applied to commercial catches were abolished in 1994. Those rentals were a tax that provided a return to the Government in recognition that a national, natural resource was being exploited for private profits. Quota holders now pay levies, which only ... Read more.
QMS

What is the Quota Management System (QMS) and how does it work?

May 22, 2020 The Quota Management System (QMS) is the system for regulating commercial fishing in New Zealand. The Minister for Oceans and Fisheries decides the annual catch limits for each area and species. Investors buy quota, giving the owner a perpetual right to fish in a particular area, for a specific species. Quota can be fished by ... Read more.
QMS

What is a resource rental?

May 22, 2020 A resource rental is a tax applied to the commercial use of natural resources. When the Quota Management System was introduced in 1986 quota holders were required to pay a resource rental on their annual catch of fish. The tax was terminated in 1994 and replaced with a user pays, levy based system. Over time ... Read more.
QMS | Rescue Fish