Licensed fish receivers | NZ Government

For individuals Mā te takitahi

For businesses Mā ngā pakihi

Most fish needs to be sold to a licensed fish receiver

Commercial fishers can only sell fish:

to licensed fish receivers (LFRs)
on wharves (if it's less than 10kg per day).

LFRs can receive any amount of fish being sold. They can also trade fish with other LFRs.

Why fish needs to be sold to an LFR

Selling fish to an LFR means that fish can be tracked. It reduces illegal fish trading and helps the Quota Management System (QMS) to work effectively. This helps with ensuring that commercial fishing is sustainable.

Find out about the Quota Management System

LFR administration is done by FishServe

FishServe administers commercial fishing on our behalf. It provides information on LFRs and manages their responsibilities. This includes submitting forms and data.

Find out more about LFRs – FishServe

Requirements for licensed fish receivers

LFRs must give a monthly report to FishServe, with details of:

who sold them fish
the species of fish they received
the weight for each fish species received.

LFRs must also do annual system audits and inventory returns.

They also have specific responsibilities if they trade in southern bluefin tuna.

Find out about the southern bluefin tuna requirements

Requirements for LFRs that process fish and seafood

LFRs that hold fish and other seafood for a short period may need to be a listed animal material depot.

Animal material depots storing fish and seafood

LFRs that hold or process fish and other seafood may need either:

a risk management programme under the Animal Products Act 1999
a food control plan under the Food Act 2014.

Being listed as an LFR does not allow you to process fish or seafood for trade.

Food safety and risk management in seafood and fish processing

Catch documentation scheme for southern bluefin tuna

Catch documentation schemes (CDS) involve reporting commercial fishing catches where the vessel lands (or before it lands). The process involves checking:

the origin of the caught fish
the weight of the caught fish
the species of the caught fish
imports and exports of fish and fish products
whether the fish was caught illegally.

The CDS that affects LFRs in New Zealand applies to all commercially caught southern bluefin tuna. This includes exports and domestic sales.

Find out more about the CDS

What LFRs need to do under the CDS

Under the CDS for southern bluefin tuna, LFRs must fill out:

catch monitoring forms
electronic catch tagging forms
re-export or export after landing forms.

Find out about tagging southern bluefin tuna

How to get the forms if you're an LFR

Each year, we provide the forms to LFRs who have landed southern bluefin tuna in the past.

LFRs who haven't landed southern bluefin tuna before and want to can email us at info@mpi.govt.nz

LFRs can also email us if they want to request more forms.

Catch monitoring form – example and instructions [PDF, 1.1 MB]

Re-export-export after landing form – example and instructions [PDF, 809 KB]

Validating the forms

An authorised trade validator must validate all:

catch monitoring forms
re-export or export after landing forms.

LFRs who trade in southern bluefin tuna usually have an authorised validator on staff to validate CDS documents.

Find out more about fisheries trade validators

Send a copy of completed forms to Fisheries New Zealand:

HMS Fisheries
Fisheries New Zealand
PO Box 2526
Wellington 6011

Tagging southern bluefin tuna

All southern bluefin tuna need to be tagged. In most cases, the fisher will tag the fish. However, if the tuna don’t have a tag when they are landed, then the LFR will need to do this. The tag is a requirement of the CDS. Without it, southern bluefin tuna won’t be accepted into markets.

How to tag southern bluefin tuna