Review of sustainability measures for 1 April 2020

UPDATE – 27 March 2020

Following consultation, the Minister of Fisheries has made decisions on sustainability measures for selected fish stocks for the 2020/21 fishing year. This includes decisions relating to total allowable catches (TACs), non-commercial allowances, and total allowable commercial catches (TACCs). Decisions made this year are below.

Stocks with a fishing year beginning on 1 April 2020:

5 rock lobster stocks
One scallop stock
Interim deemed value rates were also changed for 92 stocks (including the scallop stock above)

Stocks with a fishing year beginning on 1 October 2020:

2 rubyfish stocks
2 trumpeter stocks
One white warehou stock
One yellow-eyed mullet stock
Interim deemed value rates were also changed for 362 stocks (including the white warehou stock and the yellow-eyed mullet stock above)

The Gazette notice for the October fishing year stocks will be published at a later date to coincide with future decisions on other October stocks prior to 1 October 2020.

The minister's decision letter provides the details of, and reasons for, each of his decisions.

Decision letter – Minister of Fisheries [PDF, 866 KB]
Review of rock lobster sustainability measures for 2020/21: Final advice paper [PDF, 2.4 MB]
Appendix 3: Submissions received on the discussion document [PDF, 9.9 MB]
Review of sustainability measures for selected stocks for 1 April 2020 [PDF, 1.8 MB]
Appendix 2: Submissions received on the discussion document [PDF, 15 MB]

Related consultation

Review of sustainability measures for southern blue whiting for 1 April 2020 consultation

Summary table of the minister's decision

Area	Change	Decision summary
Northland rock lobster (CRA 1)	↓	Reduce the TAC from 273.062 to 203 tonnes. Set the TACC at 110 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 20 tonnes. Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 32 tonnes. Set the allowance for all other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 41 tonnes.
Gisborne rock lobster (CRA 3)	No change	Maintain current settings
Wellington/ Hawke’s Bay rock lobster (CRA 4)	No change	Maintain current settings
Otago rock lobster (CRA 7)	↑	Increase the TAC from 117 to 126.2 tonnes. Set the TACC at 106.2 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 10 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 5 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for all other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 5 tonnes.
Southern rock lobster (CRA 8)	↑	Increase the TAC from 1,220.6 to 1,282.7 tonnes. Set the TACC at 1,191.7 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 30 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 33 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 28 tonnes.
Northland scallops (SCA 1)	↓	Reduce the TAC from 75 to 30 tonnes. Set the TACC at 10 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 7.5 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 7.5 tonnes. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 5 tonnes.
Southland rubyfish (RBY 5)	↑	Increase the TAC from 0 to 2 tonnes. Set the TACC at 2 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 0 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 0 tonnes. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
Sub-Antarctic rubyfish (RBY 6)	↑	Increase the TAC from 0 to 1 tonne. Set the TACC at 1 tonne. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 0 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 0 tonnes. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
Sub-Antarctic trumpeter	↑	Increase the TAC from 0 to 1 tonne. Set the TACC at 1 tonne; Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 0 tonnes; Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 0 tonnes; and Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
North west North Island trumpeter (TRU 9)	↑	Increase the TAC from 0 to 4 tonnes; Set the TACC at 2 tonnes. Set the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 1 tonne. Set the allowance for recreational fishing at 1 tonne. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
North west North Island white warehou (WWA 9)	↑	Increase the TAC from 0 to 1 tonne. Set the TACC at 1 tonne. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 0 tonnes. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 0 tonnes. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
Southern yellow-eyed mullet (YEM 5)	↑	Increase the TAC from 2 to 3 tonnes. Set the TACC at 1 tonne. Maintain the allowance for customary Māori fishing at 1 tonne. Maintain the allowance for recreational fishing at 1 tonne. Set the allowance for other sources of mortality to the stock caused by fishing at 0 tonnes.
Deemed values		Interim deemed value rates have been changed for 454 stocks with either an April or an October fishing year. Interim deemed value rates for these stocks have been adjusted to 90% of the annual rate.

UPDATE – January 2020

Since the rock lobster consultation document was released on 13 December 2019, we have corrected the Total Allowable Catch figure for CRA4 – Option 4.2. It was incorrectly shown as 552.4 tonnes and should be 569.4 tonnes. We've updated the consultation document with the correct figure.

Background to consultation

Fisheries New Zealand sought feedback from tangata whenua and stakeholders on proposed changes to the sustainability measures for a number of selected fish stocks, including:

5 rock lobster (crayfish) stocks
1 scallop stock
6 finfish stocks (2 rubyfish, 2 trumpeter, 1 white warehou, and 1 yellow-eyed mullet stock)
deemed value rate changes for a large number of stocks.

The consultation ran from 13 December 2019 to 5 February 2020.

About the proposals

Every year we review catch limits for selected stocks. This is consistent with the requirement that Fisheries New Zealand ensures the sustainable use of fisheries resources.

The proposals for each stock were assessed:

in the context of the relevant statutory requirements
using the best available information, including the latest scientific information on the status of the stocks
with tangata whenua and stakeholder input.

The rock lobster proposals were guided by recommendations from the National Rock Lobster Management Group.

Find out about the group, its role, and members

Consultation documents

Review of rock lobster sustainability measures for 2020/21 [PDF, 2.1 MB]
Review of sustainability measures for Northland scallops (SCA 1) for 2020/21 [PDF, 764 KB]
Review of sustainability measures for selected stocks with a zero tonne TACC [PDF, 960 KB]
Review of deemed value rates for selected stocks [PDF, 830 KB]
Legal overview of sustainability measures [PDF, 574 KB]

If you can't open the documents or would like printed copies, email FMSubmissions@mpi.govt.nz

Summary table of the proposals

Species	Area	Change	Rationale
Rock lobster	Northland (CRA 1)	↓	Decreases to the total allowable catch, the commercial catch limit, the recreational allowance, and the other mortality allowance are proposed based on a new stock assessment for CRA 1.
	Gisborne (CRA 3)	↓	Decreases to the total allowable catch, the commercial catch limit, the recreational allowance, and the other mortality allowance are proposed based on a new stock assessment for CRA 3.
	Wellington/ Hawke’s Bay (CRA 4)	↑	Increases to the total allowable catch and the commercial catch limit are proposed based on the operation of the agreed management procedure for CRA 4.
	Otago (CRA 7)	↑	Increases to the total allowable catch and the commercial catch limit are proposed based on the operation of the agreed management procedure for CRA 7.
	Southland (CRA 8)	↑	Increases to the total allowable catch and the commercial catch limit are proposed based on the operation of the agreed management procedure for CRA 8.
Scallops	Northland (SCA 1)	↓	Decrease proposed to better reflect the current state of the fishery and address a potential sustainability risk.
Rubyfish	Southland (RBY 5)	↑	This group of fish stocks currently has commercial catch limits of zero tonnes. Nominal TACCs of between 1 to 2 tonnes are proposed, based on catch history and other relevant information. All 6 fish stocks have an October fishing year, and any decisions will come into effect on 1 October 2020.
Rubyfish	Sub-Antarctic (RBY 6)	↑
Trumpeter	Sub-Antarctic (TRU 6)	↑
Trumpeter	North west North Island (TRU 9)	↑
White warehou	North west North Island (WWA 9)	↑
Yellow-eyed mullet	Southland (YEM 5)	↑
Deemed value rate reviews		The interim deemed value rates of a large number of stocks (454), managed under both April and October fishing years, are proposed for review. The full list of stocks for review is given in the deemed value consultation document.

Submissions are public information

Submissions made become public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we have to make submissions available unless we have a good reason for withholding it. That is explained in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in any submissions you have made. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.

The National Rock Lobster Management Group

The National Rock Lobster Management Group is a national-level, multi-stakeholder group comprising representatives of the customary, recreational, and commercial fishing sectors, and Fisheries New Zealand. Since its formation in 1992, the National Rock Lobster Management Group has acted as a primary adviser to previous ministers on catch limit, regulatory, and other management actions that apply specifically to rock lobster fisheries.

The National Rock Lobster Management Group has an independent chair, and Fisheries New Zealand supports the group by providing the secretariat as well as scientific and fisheries management advice.

Current members of the National Rock Lobster Management Group are representatives of Te Waka a Māui Fisheries Forum, Te Ohu Kaimoana, NZ Recreational Fishing Council, NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council, and Fisheries New Zealand.