Date Posted: 13 Feb 2010 |
By Roger Grace.
The NZ Government is about to increase its share of the catch of the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna, at a time when its spawning biomass is down to a pathetic 5% of its original biomass and recruitment of young fish is failing.
This gives completely the wrong message to the rest of the world, who will see NZ as just as greedy as others and whose morals can be bought for just 3 million bucks.
The Ministry of Fisheries plans to increase the TAC from 420 tonnes to 532 tonnes, which will represent approximately $3 million extra income for the fishery. At the same time they plan on doubling the recreational allowance from 4 to 8 tonnes, and removing the ability to carry-over unfished commercial allowances from one year to the next.
The whole deal is explained in the Initial Position Paper (IPP) available on the MinFish website
Southern bluefin tuna has had a difficult history. It was once so abundant off Southern Australia that it was canned in large quantities. Like many abundant fish resources, early exploitation was wasteful and extravagant, and now we are paying the price for that poor management by struggling to prevent total collapse of the stock.
If we had the foresight and discipline 10 years ago to totally close the fishery and allow a rapid rebuild, we could be in a position of prosperity now with a well-managed fishery producing reliable and sustainable quantities of top-quality fish.
Despite control by a dedicated Commission (Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna, CCSBT), short-term commercial greed has prevailed over logical and considered restraint, and the hard decisions have not been made. Unfortunately most tuna stocks around the world have suffered similar fates under similar management regimes.
For southern bluefin tuna the spawning stock biomass has been steadily reduced to only 5% of its original biomass, and yields are now way below the maximum that could be sustained if more fish had been left in the sea. My understanding is that Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) could be achieved with this species at a spawning stock biomass of around 30% of its original state.
Recent indications are that the spawning stock has shown no signs of rebuilding, and in fact there have been recent years in which recruitment has been way down on what it should be, indicating great risk of total collapse.
The species is classified as “critically endangered” in the IUCN Red List, and as such, in my opinion, the best course of action is to close the fishery completely until substantial recovery is clearly evident and spawning stock biomass is back up to 30%. It is time to think of the welfare of the species, not just about who might catch the last few fish!
Total closure would be the quickest and safest way to rebuild the stock. A small economic sacrifice now will produce the quickest pathway back to a thriving and prosperous fishery, in which far greater benefits could be gained than struggling on with a pathetically small fishery and gambling that it will rebuild.
Instead of increasing the TAC, New Zealand should continue to be diligent and push hard for substantial cuts in catch of the species worldwide, and preferably a total closure of the fishery. Increasing the NZ TAC now I believe sends absolutely the wrong message to the rest of the world. Even though the additional 112 tonnes sacrificed (or given back to the population!) may not make a huge difference to a stock rebuild, that represents perhaps 800 additional breeding fish this season, each producing potentially thousands of new recruits! Surely that is worthwhile for a critically endangered species.
Roger Grace
13 February 2010
619 words
Posted in: New Zealand News •
Comments about this article
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Posted by on 02/06/2010 at 12:31 AM
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