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MPI – complete scumbags By Rhys Smith and Graham Carter
The cover-up of the Operational reports is one of the biggest travesties of justice since the Air NZ Mount Erebus crash. MPI has been in the news a lot lately over its proven mis-management of the NZ fishery. Their competence has been under review by an independent QC. The QC came to the conclusion that the decision not to prosecute some commercial fishers it had video footage of deliberately dumping and non-reporting of catch was flawed. That was no surprise to us, as there have been many equivalent incidents spread out over many years and this inquiry covers only two incidents. The NZ commercial fishery operates under the Quota Management System. This system allows a commercial fisher ownership of a set amount of fish that he may catch and sell in one quota season from 1st Oct to the 1st Oct in a given area. So a commercial fisherman may have 10 ton of snapper quota in area SNA1 for that season. You would expect the minister of MPI to impose some restrictions on the commercial fisher to protect the fishery from unsustainable fishing as the minister is bound by the Fishery Act 1996 to do so. With regards to SNA1 the commercial fisher must return to the sea all snapper less than 250 mm. This is called discard and is legal for the fisher to do. There is another form of discard that is legal, and that is for non-quota species. The minister may require these to be recorded. The minister will then set the deemed value of this fish species, so that if the fisher makes a mistake and catches fish he does not have a quota for he must still land the fish, but pay that price. The last part of legal discard is called accidental discard. If a net is torn or any other sort of mishap occurs, where fish are discarded before the fisher has a chance to pull them on board. The fisher is then required to guess the weight and record them so they can come off his quota and this gives the minister an accurate idea of the amount of fish being caught in that season. If a fisher breaches these restrictions that is an offense and is punishable in court, and in this case it is hypocrisy at its best! When MPI went in search of catch information on the fishing mortality of the Hector Dolphin off the coast in Timaru, they put cameras on 6 large commercial fishing trawl vessels. This was with the co-operation of the owners of the vessels at the time. When the vessels left port with the cameras bolted to their masts there was no agreement with MPI to remove any of the restrictions. As we understand it all of the restrictions we have listed above were in place in that
fishery management area. This is when things really turned to custard. During the data gathering exercise the MPI discovered some really disgraceful conduct, which was observed by both the onboard cameras and MPI observers on the vessels. This included the discarding of medium legal fish that should have been retained on board. Other offences included misreporting of entire trawl catch as one vessel towed for hours only to discard the lot and not report it. There was clear footage of usable fish being cut up and thrown away. There were fish bins covered with ice and stacked on deck that was not recorded. There were two dolphins caught in the net and only one recorded. There were some reports that show up to 60% of fish of a lesser value were dumped over the side. All of the ministers restrictions, put in place to protect sustainability have been totally disregarded by 5/6 of the vessels in the trial. Why were they not prosecuted? The fishermen themselves must have been totally dumb or arrogant to do these things at all, let alone while the boss was filming them. Should these fishermen be prosecuted, yes the evidence is too over-whelming and damning. These fishermen were far too efficient at throwing away, cutting, discarding, non-reporting and their total disregard for any sustainable restriction put in place. The commercial fishermen have shown complete and total contempt for the rules, the fish stock, and every kiwi. So why didn’t MPI prosecute? They simply didn’t want to. These offences committed by the commercial industry could have seen a Judge confiscate all five offending vessels. That would have been great for the fishery to recover from such a bunch of criminal fishers. But the MPI managers don’t see the fishery as a natural wonder; no, they see it only as a product for export. Furthermore the behaviour is not isolated as this has been standard practice for nearly all our bulk harvesting fishery history, and has been going on for 30 years. All of the MPI Senior management have known about these practices and should resign because they have let this continue for the sake of a few more export fish. They should not resign because of incompetence, but because it was and has been a deliberate and planned strategy. If this is how our exporters are going to treat the gift of the NZ fishery then we don’t need them at all. If the cost of exporting wild fish,
is to kill and waste thousands of tonnes, then we should stop. MPI are in the fight for their lives, or at least the right to govern the NZ fisheries. NZ First has called for a Commission of Enquiry along with a long silent advocacy group that has finally come out of the closet. It’s pretty strange that when the MPI prosecute recreational fishers the rules are clear as a bell and a huge fuss is made in the media of their excellent job being done to protect the fishery. Rules for some and different rules for others. The truth is a few kilometres off the coast the fishery is being plundered and the rules are fuzzy and the very same Ministry tries to hide from the public what is going on. A Commission of Inquiry would show an orchestrated litany of lies. The same as Justice Mahon discovered in his investigation after Air New Zealand did the big cover up over the Erebus disaster. The commercial fishers of NZ and now the MPI fishery management deserve all the hate that comes their way. They have clung together constantly denying any wrong doing. Their lies and deception has now been revealed and they still can’t man up. They have caused continual damage to our once healthy and pristine fishery and wreaked havoc and anguish amongst the normally subdued kiwi angler. The Minister and top Directors of MPI who have publicly, time after time, told us of their faith in the world beating QMS and how proud we can be of our sustainable NZ fishery. They have straight faced lied to the NZ public and have proven beyond doubt that they are the most atrocious liars New Zealand has ever known. They have told us that 75% of the NZ QMS fish are at the level of sustainability that they want. They don’t consider the Hawkes bay or Bay of Plenty as depleted and they have put the blame for the decimation of the Marlborough Sounds on the pine trees and the recreational fisher. They have been protecting the parasites known as a commercial fisher. Two of these parasites Coleman and Gallacher have jumped ship. According to Martyn Dunne Director General and his MPI legal adviser, who sent us a letter stating that they hold Coleman and Gallacher in high regard, and they were not sacked. We sent a letter back saying that we don’t hold these two shysters in high regard in any form. Are these two contemptible scumbags? If so, they should not and never be employed in public service as they would be a disgrace to the country. So what’s the problem? The problem is that we share these resources and
the SNA1 Management Plan is lip service to sustainability and actually is facilitated managed depletion through providing increase pressure on our local fishing grounds. The issue is that the MPI think by tagging fish, releasing them and catching them again in a trawl later on, that they can use this to increase the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), because they are good at catching the same fish. The relocation of fishing utilization to 50:50 (Recreational - Commercial) is just a way of justifying high restrictions on our ability to catch, enjoy and connect with fish. The fact that they plan to change TAC but not change total allowable commercial Catch (TACC) is of serious concern, there is no equity only that if SNA1 collapses the community has to take it on the chin and have bag limits cut whereas commercial will not be affected. If we want to have a productive ocean we need to relate to it in a productive way, make more with less and increase the value of what we have got, not just make it easier to take more. We need an ecosystem based approach that is related to space and connected to places, fishing grounds, reefs and marine features. We are all guardians, stewards and kaitiaki of our shared resource. We have only a handful of local fishers doing it hard in a QMS world and they need a chance to make a living in a sustainable way. This does not mean they are going to go hard and “move-on” as the report suggest, we all should do, It means been empa-
thetic to the environment and our community that share the resource. We love fish in this country but sometimes it seems we forget that in order to enjoy the pleasure it brings us we have to have a little compassion for each other. We the community has got the pointy end of the sword and now they want as to walk the plank. Well this fisher is not going to do nothing and slip quietly into the dark. We totally refuse to negotiate or talk with these scumbags like some do as they don’t deserve the time of day. Consultation and negotiation is a waste of breathe as they have proven over succeeding years. The MPI is the ‘cancer of our seas’ and rotten to the very core. The Director of MPI Martyn Dunne has shown on TV where his loyalties lie and it is not with the fish or recreational fisher. He should resign as he is not a fit and proper person to fulfil his role, as guardian of our waters. We love the sea and all that it provides, and the moments we share with it. We all want our kids to have those opportunities, sharing stories, laughs and tales. It’s our heritage, it’s our culture, and it’s our future. If we don’t do something about it, it will be a myth. The Proposed SNA1 (snapper 1) management plan is designed stupidity, that rough shods the community. No Notification. No Consultation. No Community Engagement. Save our sea.
This concerns everyone who enjoys fish, fishing, sustainability and not destroying the planet. The marine resources are part of our identity. It’s our heritage and our children’s future connection. The ocean provides so much, now we must support ocean, as a community. They have said that they are not going to do a consultation process, and the final plan will be submitted to MPI minister Nathan Guy in October for approval. The plan is lip service to facilitate the use of trawlers in the inshore fishery. It says little to protecting fish from destructive methods of fishing, and we could see the collapse of our local fishing grounds. They have recommendations for increasing TAC, and increasing TAC share to Rec fishing, as well as compensation to commercial fishing who maybe disadvantaged by reductions to TAC. What’s most shocking is that TAC if reduced would only be for Rec fishing bag limits and Commercial would remain the same TACC levels. We as community connected to the ocean will ultimately be eroded in the near future. This complete issue really shows what a slippery snake Nathan Guy really is. It also shows us that there are no top level staff in the MPI that have a conscience or actually care. Now that there is evidence and significant dialogue on commercial fisheries ongoing lawbreaking and decimation of the fish stocks there is less squirming room for Guy and his cronies than there has ever been.
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