I don't get involved in NZ fisheries much anymore, yet up to the late 90s I was part of the industry, advised regulators and also was an MPI (MoF on those days) research provider working on pelagics and recreational assessments…
Various reasons for me not being involved… firstly NZ has a lot of good people working on fisheries, then while many people believed that me being a “foreigner” was good as I had no agenda… others had a more “who the fu*k are you?” attitude and they were quite vocal about it. Finally, there was better pay for working overseas.
This is not to say that I don't keep a keen interest in it, or I discard going back to it. In fact, I have used NZ experiences and models for my work overseas and have good friends deeply involved in NZ fisheries at every level
So I get always dubitative when I’m asked to comment about NZ fisheries since immediately you get cornered to a sector or user… doesn't matter what you take is… you are with us or against us… and I hate that shit.
So when our local magazine “Gulf News” asked me for a chat on local fisheries on the back of my seafood champion award… I was careful... I guess ideally you are liked by everyone if that is not possible being disliked by everyone is not a bad outcome… I guess this put me in that last scenario
The caption of the picture says: “accurate reporting is the basis of any fisheries management both commercial and recreational”
I transcript the article here below, since is not online….
In the wake of speculation about the 100 dead snappers found floating in the Hauraki Gulf, Waiheke fisheries expert Francisco Blaha has called out the "toxic" discourse surrounding recreational and commercial fishing.
Blaha, the winner of the 2019 World Seafood Sustainability Champion Award, says antagonism is rising as the population expands, but said we have regulatory systems in place which we should prize and support to make ity better.
Having worked across regulators, science providers, NGOs and industry he says New Zealand is "very lucky" and voiced disappointment at some "entitled" behaviour he has encountered.
"The fact that fisheries are struggling in many parts of the world does not immediately imply fisheries are struggling here, not to say that everything is perfect, of course not, it is not doom either. Catch volumes have been stable for many species, while on other conservation measures are being taken. I find that the fisheries conversation is really toxic," he told Gulf News.
"There are always better ways to do things, but we need to be aware of how unique our conditions and relationships are, here in NZ my message is: you are all stakeholders and none of you is better than the other guy."
Regarding the dead snapper, Blaha says due diligence wasn't followed and someone will have to take responsibility. We can all point fingers but we will see what the issue is. I can think of a couple of things that could have happened. The fact Fisheries is trying to find out what happened is a good sign, not a bad sign. I'm sure they will find out as there are quite a few tools at their disposal to do that, and the fisheries officers know their job well.
Based at Palm Beach but working overseas for much of the year, Blaha has witnessed first-hand systems that are failing and non-existent in developing nations, with more vessels operating under flags of convenience and growing exploitation of workers.
"I don't think my son will work in fisheries and I'm saddened by that, even if he wanted to it would be much harder for him, "he said. "It's about geopolitics, subsidies, very unfair fishing practices, transparency is going down and it's very bad in terms of exploitation. More and more people are disadvantaged, there are countries where people get paid very low salaries."
Finding solutions and supporting the actions of developing nations to fight those trends is a key part of Blaha's job. He says he has learned that you don't fix anything long term with a hammer, you need a toolbox and patience.
On the flip-side, Blaha points to NZ's many advantages and resources. "We're not next to anyone else, it's more controllable, we have a “gate in” anda “gate out” for fisheries, we're relatively wealthy, we have good scientists. We definitely need more resources put into fisheries and we need less antagonism between stakeholders," he said.
"I have noticed the antagonism since I arrived 25 years ago and it's getting worse since there are now more people every year for the same amount of fish." For example In New Zealand, the snapper catch is split roughly 60/40 to commercial and recreational fishing (https://openseas.org.nz/fish/snapper/). "If there is a problem, it is a shared problem," he said. "If you fish for a job or you fish to have fun, you're both fishing the same stock, but everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else and not at themselves.
For example, "Recreational fishers like to point to commercial fishers for misreporting and events like the 100 snappers, while commercial fisherman point at recreational fishers on the lack of certainty of data and licensing on how many people fish and how much they catch."
Blaha says there are people that play by the rules and there are those who don't on both sides. He also said both sides are very good at cherry-picking. "For example, recreational fishers may say we catch very little volumes yet they are many of them, and if they have a 150HP engine in the back to land 10 kg of fish, how does that compare with a commercial one that lands 3000kg on 400HP in terms of emissions and fuel consumption per volume landed," he asked. On the other hand Commercials may say": “Hey, we operate against a tightly defined quota based on the best science available and we get audited,” while at the same time may not report an accidental or on purpose dumping
"No one in fisheries (or any aspect of life) is totally guilty or innocent. It is the extent of it that varies according to different people. No one has the moral upper ground here”
According to Blaha the only truly sustainable thing we can do as humans is to all die at once, anything else implies compromises. "Where that compromise is, depends on personal choice and public policy. For example, personally I love fishing, I do spearfishing and non-motorised, I use a sailing waka ama or a paddleboard to go fishing," he said.
"Yet I understand that for others that compromise is with a big boat and 250HP engine that liquefies its exhaust emissions in the water and produces lots of noise. Obviously that person is doing something that is allowed (and that he can afford). I may have my opinions on how envirmentally sustainable his practices really are, but we both are under the same regulatory framework and I am not more righteous than him."
On the issue of Waiheke's proposed marine reservations, Blaha says more thought needs to go into location if we want them to work. For example, he says a reserve located at a popular beach or bay would be too difficult to police.
"Fundamentally it's about how it’s going to be patrolled, pointing fingers at DoC or council isn't going to work, you can't give them the responsibility if you created it. We need to be creative about solutions and on all aspects of how it's going to work. I don't see fisheries as divided, I see it as a unit."
In his view, Blaha says prohibition doesn't work for anything and marine protected areas (MPAs)are tool among others, not a solution in themselves.
"There's only one thing worse than not having them, is that when people don't respect them," he said. "You can't talk about marine protected area without talking about users. If people are going to anchor their boat for the night and drop a line, how are you going to patrol that?
No solution is perfect anywhere in the world, they are all perfectible, but you need resources, time and political will, or at least not political interference."
While not ideal, Blaha says the quota management system in New Zealand has the potential to be perfected with time, resources and political independence, while balancing the three main users - commercial, recreational and customary (Maori).
"Everyone in NZ is a fisheries expert and people have really strong positions, and if you disagree it gets personal quite fast. I don't want to play that game. I have worked in fisheries since I was 17 and I am for fisheries, and not against any particular fisher, I'm happy to work with (or point fingers at, if needed at) everyone:"
Blaha says fisheries is all about policy, science and MCS (monitoring, control and surveillance). "Science deals with stock estimates because we are always talking about estimates and how much fish is there, policy feeds from that side and rules, who, how, how much and where fish is to be caught, while MCS verifies and controls that those rules have been applied and the captures are correctly counted, and they feedback that info to science and policy. We can compare these to a table with three legs, they need to be strong and well connected… if one fails the table falls apart."
But he believes the "toxic" finger-pointing debate is not helping.
"People fish for a job, people fish for fun and people fish because it is part of their culture, but we're are in the same game. We are lucky we can debate in NZ, but I believe each of the sectors' sense of entitlement has taken the debate to toxic levels. We are all using the same resources," he said.
"We are lucky we can fish for fun, we are lucky that the commercial fisherman has access to a quota, and we are lucky we have customary fishing. We have so much in our favour, yet we are wasting our time pointing our fingers at each other."