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Customary Fisheries | Fisheries Management | maximum sustainable yield | QMS | Economics | Fishing | Rescue Fish | Environment | Fishing methods | Recreational Fishing | Fishcare | customary | Kahawai | Reform scam | Baitfish | Scallops | Crayfish | WRC decision
May 29, 2025
Purse seining is the main method used by commercial fishers to catch kahawai. Substantial quantities of kahawai are also harvested using set nets and as non-targeted catch in the surface longline and trawl fisheries Source – Fisheries New Zealand, Fisheries Assessment Plenary. May 2024. Pages 720 & 721
May 29, 2025
In 2024, New Zealand exported more than 975,000 kilograms of kahawai. The majority of kahawai is exported frozen, whole, no value added. Source – Seafood New Zealand, Export Statistics. January – December 2024. Page 41
April 18, 2024
The 2022-23 National Panel Survey to estimate recreational catch found that New Zealanders land around 5,500 tonnes of fish per annum. This survey was conducted nationwide by Fisheries New Zealand between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023. The previous Survey was conducted in 2017-18. Excluding aquaculture, the Fisheries New Zealand research reveals that annual ... Read more.
October 5, 2023
B50 is precautionary management Given the challenges of climate change, poor stock estimates and critical Court judgements, delivering on the promise of precautionary management means investing in a change to restore fish abundance, biodiversity, and ecosystem function. Having a management target of B50 is a start to achieving restored abundance for the benefit of all ... Read more.
April 13, 2023
In March 2023 Stuart Nash, the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, closed the Coromandel scallop fishery to commercial and recreational harvest. This closure was made under section 11 of the Fisheries Act 1996. The fishery remains open to Māori customary harvest. There has been a strong reaction to this decision so we asked Fisheries New ... Read more.
July 24, 2021
B50 means a more resilient ocean through more fish and increased biodiversity. More fish in the water means fish stocks have well-balanced age structures in their populations and a more productive marine ecosystem that can support other creatures such as marine mammals, seabirds, and sharks. In measuring fish population size for a fish stock, Fisheries ... Read more.
July 24, 2021
B50 can be further explained as fish population sizes should be at a minimum at 50% of the size that the original fish population was, before large-scale fishing began. B50 means more fish in New Zealand waters. More fish means more biodiversity through increased fish abundance. More biodiversity creates ecological resilience to fight environmental issues ... Read more.
July 24, 2021
B50 describes a fish population at 50% of its estimated original stock size (biomass). Biomass is an estimate of the total quantity of fish in a given area. If a fish stock is estimated to be at B50 that means that there is around half the amount of fish in a given area compared to ... Read more.
July 24, 2021
New Zealand uses different biomass levels to measure stock status when carrying out a fish stock assessment. Two biomass levels are used, the spawning stock biomass, and the initial biomass (B0).The spawning stock biomass and the initial biomass are compared as a percentage to indicate overall fish stock status. The spawning stock biomass is the ... Read more.
July 24, 2021
In fisheries, biomass is an estimate of the total quantity of fish in a given area. Biomass can be expressed in different ways, depending on what you are trying to measure. For example, biomass can be an estimate of the number of fish able to breed, or biomass can be expressed as the estimated ... Read more.
