Marine Recreational Fishing

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Introduction

UnitedFuture recognises that New Zealanders have a long tradition of making the most of our marine resources and, as such, have acquired common rights to harvest a bounty that is accessible to all. Currently, however, these common rights are being largely ignored and successive Governments and their respective Ministers of Fisheries are denying the legal recognition of these common rights.

Our overriding aim is to have the rights of recreational users and harvesters enshrined in law. For this reason we are pushing for a review of Section 21 of the Fisheries Act to guarantee that the Minister of Fisheries has to set recreational user’s share of the relevant QMS (Quota Management System) before setting the commercial sector’s quota.

Freedom of access to these resources must also be preserved – although still restricted to legally takeable marine species and quotas. Above all, UnitedFuture recognises that the sustainability of the resource is paramount in order to safeguard these rights and to preserve this uniquely New Zealand way of life for now and for the future.

It is UnitedFuture policy to:

Establish a statutory management structure for the marine recreational fishery (to be superimposed over one of the existing marine fishing organisations) – possibly along the same lines as the Fish and Game management structure;
Partially fund the new statutory organisation by setting up a rebate system whereby any petrol excise tax paid on fuel used in recreational vessels will be refunded and diverted to that organisation;
Review and amend the Fisheries Act to ensure that recreational fishers have a priority right over and above the commercial fishing sector to free and unrestricted access to a reasonable daily bag-limit of shellfish and finfish;
Substantially increase the level of funding made available for robust scientific monitoring over the impact that specific catch limits and fishing methods are have on fish populations and the marine environment in order to ensure sustainability;
Ensure that the Government recognises that education is essential for the future survival of the oceans resources and to make the appropriate additions to the school curriculum;
Investigate a program to give ‘problem’ kids experience going out on a recreational fishing boat.