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Please help make New Zealand’s fisheries more sustainable

As a supporter of our Save Our Sealions petition, I thought you might be interested in the upcoming Bill to strengthen the Fisheries Act.

Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has put forward a Bill to strengthen the Fisheries Act and make sure our fisheries are managed more sustainably.

Forest & Bird’s 2005 analysis found that many of New Zealand’s 68 commercial fisheries are far from sustainable:

• 17 were over-fished or had substantially declining stocks
• 30 had never had a qualitative stock assessment
• 27 killed significant numbers of seabirds such as albatrosses
• 32 killed significant numbers of marine mammals such as seals, dolphins and sea lions

Although many MPs and stakeholder groups like Forest & Bird support the move, the Bill has been attacked by some MPs and some in the fishing industry, and may not succeed without your help.

The Bill proposes to strengthen the Act to give clearer direction to decision makers to act cautiously when information about a fishery is uncertain or data is lacking. It will help protect the marine environment and ensure the long-term future for fisheries in New Zealand.

Public support will be critical to the success of the Fisheries Act Amendment Bill.

To voice your support for making New Zealand fisheries more sustainable, please send an email to Jim Anderton and the Primary Production Select Committee to express your support for the Fisheries Amendment Bill.

We encourage you to send a personal letter in support of the Bill. Please visit our website for more detailed information on the Bill and who to send your letter to.

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