Fisheries New Zealand removed observers from around half of voyages to inshore and highly migratory species fisheries due to failure to follow safety regulations, Marc Daalder reports
The number of observers on fishing boats will fall short of targets for the second straight year, after a collision in Auckland Harbour led regulators to keep staff onshore unless safety regulations are followed.
Officials from Fisheries New Zealand advised the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries in November on the implications of a clarification about the scope of so-called watchkeeping regulations, which require vessels to post a watchkeeper for collision threats at all times. Until recently, the understanding was that the rules didn't apply when boats are at anchor.
"This requirement applies to all vessels including fishing vessels and pleasure craft. Despite this requirement, anchoring at night in a sheltered location without a dedicated watchkeeper is a common practice across inshore vessels that do multi-day trips," they advised in documents released under the Official Information Act.
A July 2021 collision in Auckland Harbour between a fishing boat with an Fisheries NZ observer and a container ship (in which no one was hurt) prompted the agency to pull observers from any ships not following watchkeeper rules, Stuff reported last year. A watchkeeper was not posted on the fishing boat in question.
Observers verify commercial catch reporting, including of protected species, and monitor compliance with other fishing rules. They also collect data for scientific research.
At the time, the decision was only expected to affect a small number of voyages. But the clarification late last year from Maritime New Zealand that watchkeeping regulations extend to vessels at anchor means a significant number of smaller commercial enterprises aren't following the rules.
"Based on our initial analysis, we expect that overall around 20 percent of the current year's Seaday Plan is expected to be impacted in some way. This estimate will depend on how fishers respond to watchkeeping concerns," officials wrote.
"The impact of watchkeeping on observer coverage primarily impacts smaller vessels operating in the inshore and surface long line vessels. We estimate a reduction of coverage of around 45 percent for inshore and 60 percent for HMS [Highly Migratory Species] fisheries. Larger deepwater vessels are not impacted."
A spokesperson for Oceans and Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking told Newsroom the estimate of the disruption has since been revised upwards, with 23 percent of planned days at sea affected. So far, observers have missed out on 2047 sea days out of 10,026 planned for the year to June 30.
This will mark the second year in a row where observer coverage has fallen short of the 90 percent target set by Fisheries New Zealand, after Covid-19 restrictions meant only 77 percent of planned sea days were delivered in the 2021/22 year.
A report to ministers later in November detailed the issues behind the lack of watchkeeping on smaller commercial vessels. It is simply not financially viable for many of these boats to hire staff to keep watch at night, officials said.
"Failure to maintain an adequate watch at all times appears to be an entrenched behaviour among smaller fishing vessel operators, particularly at anchor and while drifting. Operations have been structured in a way that does not readily provide for a watch to be maintained and in these cases, it is expected they will face practical and economic constraints to achieve compliance."
In the end, "some fishing operations may become unviable".
The fleet most affected by the drop in coverage, surface long-line vessels, is also the fleet most likely to catch Antipodean albatross and some other protected species.
Fishers are known to under-report bycatch of protected species. In 2019/20, for example, observers were placed on 10 percent of surface long-line vessels and witnessed five Antipodean albatross fatalities. The remaining 90 percent reported just 10 captures.
Brooking told Newsroom the Government wouldn't budge on withholding observers from non-compliant boats, despite the impact on coverage.
"Fisheries New Zealand is working with Maritime New Zealand, which is responsible for the rules regarding safety at sea. The safety of observers at sea is of paramount importance and we will not put observers on board vessels that don’t meet safety requirements," she said.
"However, the rollout of on-board cameras will fundamentally change how we verify fishing activity. As cameras are put in place, our reliance on observer coverage in these fisheries will reduce. In the meantime, other methods of fisheries monitoring continue. This includes GPS monitoring of the entire commercial fishing fleet in near-real time, the camera programme operating in Maui dolphin habitat on the west coast of the North Island and targeted compliance inspections."
Up to 300 inshore vessels will receive cameras by the end of 2024 and most of these will no longer need an on-board observer.
