Thread: Commercial fishing industry trying to do the right thing

Good on them for trying to find better and less wasteful methods of trawling but still they need to find a way to prevent seabed damage while doing a bottom trawl, but it is a start in the right direction for sustainability.


PSH venture to move NZ towards more sustainable... | Stuff.co.nz

It's here - the future of commercial fishing - Business - NZ Herald News

I don't have a problem with trawling as such ,the guys need to make a living just like the rest of us .
What I do struggle with is coming inshore ,lights off ,ID on the boat covered targeting spawning fish.
I think that is just blatant miss use of the resource that belongs to us all. If they stay out a reasonable
distance (few km's) would be wonderful.
In fairness the pollution from run off isn't good for our fishery either,super phosphate ,lime , & a host of other chemicals we collectively as a rural based economy pour on the land annually .Should I add sewage to that list ?

Forestry,farming .

Its not the trawl that wastes fish its the QMS

If they had to keep all the fish, (no size limit) and it counted against their quota. No dead/small fish thrown back would be a good thing. Small dead fish can't grow / spawn so why toss em back.


Note: my emloyment is directly releated to the fishing industry so I do have a vested interest.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Where is the waste in farming?

It is the trawl that kills the fish to start with.

Effluent and chemicall run offs bobby calfs etc.


Yep its the trawl that kills the fish but its the QMS and a portion of greed that sees fish being dumped.

Originally Posted by Chris

I don't have a problem with trawling as such ,the guys need to make a living just like the rest of us .
What I do struggle with is coming inshore ,lights off ,ID on the boat covered targeting spawning fish.
I think that is just blatant miss use of the resource that belongs to us all. If they stay out a reasonable
distance (few km's) would be wonderful.
In fairness the pollution from run off isn't good for our fishery either,super phosphate ,lime , & a host of other chemicals we collectively as a rural based economy pour on the land annually .Should I add sewage to that list ?

I think VC is referring to the last paragraph, quota system needs a good look at!

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

I don't see how you can compare killing a portion of the very product you are harvesting to effluent and nutrient/chemical runoff. These are very closely monitored and enforced.
Bobby calves are a by product which unfortunately can not be left out of the equation. But they are not just dumped as fish are.

Agreed BUT "Small / Undersized" fish MUST be returned to the sea regardless of recreational or commercial fishing activity. They have no choice if its too small ( I would rather the commercial guys have no size limit and have to land everything against their quota) and just like effluent and nutrient/chemical runoff dumping fish is illegal and although you may not believe it will cost you everything if you get caught (very likely)

I honestly don't see how returning small ,undersize ,non-quota & dead fish is a waste.It is being put back into the ecosystem /food chain where it will be of benefit.That applies to both recreational & commercial sectors ,it will not be wasted .

Am I wrong in thinking that the technology is available which allows fish size/school density etc to be established for shallow water species before the nets are shot ? In other words, there should be no real excuse for landing undersized fish ?

Originally Posted by Chris

I honestly don't see how returning small ,undersize ,non-quota & dead fish is a waste.It is being put back into the ecosystem /food chain where it will be of benefit.That applies to both recreational & commercial sectors ,it will not be wasted .

On a small scale ie inshore fishing i agree in part. Yes it will be eaten mostly by birds but 1 ton of 1 pound fish would have been 20 tonne of 20 pound fish if they had the chance.
On a large scale dumping 150tonne of black dory without even landing it because your targeting roughy most of it sinks to the ocean floor and apparently forms a toxic sludge.
While Im sure that wouldn't happen anymore on any of the big 3s boats Im not so sure of there joint ventures.

I really got down in the mouth about our fisherys a couple of years before i left for good.
There was voluntary conditions for those company's in the hoki management thing including not fishing less than 450m steaming x miles if x percent were less than x length etc.
Unfortunately when fishing was tough it was always a sure thing to catch plenty of small fish in spot x.
I moved boats and one trip we were into the small fish an all the small small were going straight to meal plant. I asked why they were mealing them and was told they are to small for the Baaders to fillet. Be Buggered ill tune the machines to fillet them. And we did, because i hate seeing whole fish sent to meal.
Result was product in freezers which ment we(or more accurately the skipper) continued catching undersize fish for the rest of the trip.
When you start talking thousands of tonne size makes a massive difference to the actuall take in numbers of fish.

I have fished in many different fisherys around the southern hemisphere. Not every fishery is the same. Arge for instance is basicly a nursery. They have been catching hundreds of thousands of ton for years and years of juvenile hoki and there fishery is still as good as it was.
Tasmainia is the complete opposite you only catch mature big hoki.
Most countrys restrict how and when you can catch fish.
Ie no mid water trawl don't catch em spawning. No bottom trawl catch em spawning but not the rest of the year.
Catch the small ones let the big breed(Arge) catch the big ones let the little onesgrow(Tas)

This is a deep sea rant but nz is unique in that we target them big and small all year round on the bottom and in the mid water.

Give the Buggers a break somewhere!

Do you think VC its better to put the discard back into the ecosystem it came from rather than brought onshore to be put into a land fill.
If some of it gets back into the food chain not all would be wasted. To me its no different to a hunter leaving meat in the bush he can't carry out .The native flora & fauna will benefit from it if only as fertilizer.

Originally Posted by Chris

Do you think VC its better to put the discard back into the ecosystem it came from rather than brought onshore to be put into a land fill.
If some of it gets back into the food chain not all would be wasted. To me its no different to a hunter leaving meat in the bush he can't carry out .The native flora & fauna will benefit from it if only as fertilizer.

Better that there is no discard at all. Big dumps of protein is like putting a tonne of superphosphate on 3 square meters of lawn. Nothing will ever grow there again.
Tho this is more of a large scale thing.

It goes back to what i was saying earlier.
Would you be happy for someone to catch and kill and return for arguments sake 3 tonne of juvenile to keep one tonne of mature size ?
Effectively catching and killing far more than the total allowable catch ?
At least if it has to be landed and processed its coming off of the quota and then in that situation they will avoid catching small fish because it will hurt the pocket.

Not sure about VC's point of view but what what I have witnessed nothing at all gets wasted on a big factory trawler. A lot of the rubbished is recycled or sent to the meal plant

Originally Posted by mikee

Not sure about VC's point of view but what what I have witnessed nothing at all gets wasted on a big factory trawler. A lot of the rubbished is recycled or sent to the meal plant

These days yes and any discard is first hashed to avoid the poisoning the bottom thing.
But there are a lot of big joint venture boats out there that are not the same animal.