Benson-Pope David: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
Benson-Pope David: Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) — First Reading 
[Volume:616;Page:12382] 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Minister of Fisheries) 
: 
 I move  
That the Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) be considered by the Primary Production Committee that it be an instruction to the committee in its consideration of the bill that it divide the provisions relating to the introduction of scampi into the quota management system from the bill to form a separate bill to be reported to the House by 22 June 2004 that the remaining provisions of the bill be reported to the House by 27 July 2004 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House and outside the Wellington area during a sitting of the House notwithstanding Standing Orders 191 193(a) and 194(1)(b) and (c). 
The bill is in three parts and has two schedules. Part 1 provides for revisions to the 1996 Fisheries Act. The bill amends the Act to reinforce the quota management system as the preferred framework for managing fisheries resources. The quota management system provides the best framework for sustainable use and to enable stakeholders to provide for their social cultural and economic well-being. The bill removes the parts of the fisheries law that empowered the use of individual catch entitlements which are often promoted as an alternative to the quota management system but perform relatively poorly. The bill amends the Act to provide more direction as to when the quota management system will be used to manage fisheries. The lack of guidance in the current law has created uncertainty about potential management regimes. It will be replaced with sustainability and utilisation thresholds that when breached will require the Minister of Fisheries to bring a species into the quota management system unless the Minister considers the purpose of the Act would be better met by an alternative management intervention. 
The bill revises the current regime for authorising access to commercial fisheries and removes the permit moratorium which is unnecessarily impeding their use. Currently a fishing permit gives access to stocks that are in the quota management system or that are specified on that permit. Access to stock outside the quota management system has been restricted to those fishers who had access to it in 1992. A specific provision addressing non-authorised stake is due to expire on 30 September 2004. Without that provision many multi-species fishers would be unable to operate without committing offences. The bill amends the Act so that while the commercial fishing permit will remain the means of authorising access to fisheries the restriction on issuing new permits will be lifted. That may raise some sustainability risk for certain species outside the quota management system. Such species have been identified and placed on the transitional schedule that the bill inserts in the Act. Access to all species and stocks on that schedule will continue to be restricted until they are considered for management in the quota management system. 
The bill amends the Act to improve the means of allocating quota when stock is introduced into the quota management system. That improvement will be achieved by removing certain allocation mechanisms that are becoming outdated and are consequently impeding effective fisheries management. The current allocation mechanisms based on 1990-92 catch history or on an individual catch entitlement holding will be removed from the Act. When a stock is introduced into the quota management system 80 percent of the new quota will be allocated to the Crown and the remaining 20 percent will be allocated to Maori under the 1992 fisheries deed of settlement. The Crown will then tender the quota it has been allocated. The overall effect of the amendment will be that catch history as a means of allocating quota will cease with the exception of species and stocks on the transitional schedule referred to previously—tuna and highly migratory species caught outside New Zealand fisheries waters. Revisions to the 1996 Act will also extend the coverage of the quota management system to provide for the management of highly migratory species beyond New Zealand fisheries waters. It will enable total allowable catches to be set for highly migratory species prior to national shares being allocated by a regional fisheries organisation. 
Part 1 also provides for minor technical amendments to the principal Act to clarify its wording or better achieve the intent of the legislation. Part 2 provides for revisions to the 1983 Act. The revisions provide for the removal of authority to issue spat-catching permits. The existing permit access will be retained until 30 September 2006. Those steps will ensure a smooth transition from the current spat-catching regime to the quota management system when greenshell mussel becomes subject to the quota management system from 1 October 2004. In order for the associated regulatory amendments to be made prior to 1 October 2004 I intend to move that the committee report Parts 1 and 2 of the bill by 27 July. 
Part 3 provides for the introduction of scampi into the quota management system on 1 October 2004. A key recommendation of the Primary Production Committee’s report on its scampi inquiry was that scampi be introduced into the quota management system as of 1 October 2004 using catch history as the basis for quota allocation. In order to ensure that date is met it is best to use legislation to give effect to the Primary Production Committee’s recommendations. The scampi part of the bill will also define all matters consequential to a declaration to introduce stocks into the quota management system allocate provisional catch history to scampi fishers provide the capacity for fishers to appeal against provisional catch history allocations to the Catch History Review Committee and make other consequential changes as necessary. To allow time to complete the remaining statutory obligations in the quota allocation process in the months prior to scampi’s introduction to the quota management system on 1 October 2004 I intend to move that the committee report on Part 3 by 22 June. 
There are two schedules to the bill. Schedule 1 includes new schedules 4B and 4C to be inserted into the principal Act. New schedule 4B lists highly migratory species and new schedule 4C lists stocks and species for which quota is to be allocated on the basis of provisional catch history. New schedule 4C also lists those species that will remain under the current permit moratorium regime due to sustainability concerns on removal of the existing moratorium. Schedule 2 includes new schedules 13 and 14 to be inserted into the principal Act. New schedule 13 specifies quota management areas for particular scampi stocks and new schedule 14 specifies the scampi provisional catch history allocations to be allocated to individual fishers. 
In summary this bill provides for revisions to the 1996 Fisheries Act revisions to the 1983 Fisheries Act and the introduction of scampi into the quota management system. It reinforces the preference for the use of the quota management to manage fisheries resources and implements a key recommendation of the select committee report on scampi. I am pleased to commend this bill to the House.