van de Molen Tim; Parker DavidTIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Chair. Following on from that in relation to some of the discussion just had around fish stock assessments I'm really interested to understand a bit more from the Minister around that funding aspect because I am a bit concerned that the fish stock management is not operating quite as efficiently as it could be. We only evaluated 159 fish stocks; 240 were not assessed at all. Of those 159 scientifically evaluated fish stocks 28 were deemed to be overfished—that's just about 20 percent. So it seems that we are saying that nearly one in five of our fish stocks are overfished and I wonder whether the Minister could give some insight into whether he is comfortable with that figure and if not what funding arrangements under this current Budget will be adapted to deal with that.Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for Oceans and Fisheries): The quota management system in New Zealand has worked reasonably well—not perfectly—to enforce rules requiring that fishing is limited to a sustainable level of catch. That total allowable catch is then split between commercial recreational and actually allowances for illegal and other causes of fish mortality. Now overall it's worked well. On some occasions the research shows that when they do a stock assessment of fish some of the heavily fished species have dropped below expected levels. The most pressing example of that recently in New Zealand was actually the tarakihi fishery. That is due for reassessment this year. I won't say much about that in detail because they are decisions that are yet to be taken but there is for those that are interested a recent High Court decision where some of the decisions that were made previously in the tarakihi stock were looked at and criticised.Where we're lucky in New Zealand—well where we're unlucky—is we've got such enormous biodiversity and richness in our fish stocks that realistically we can't assess every one of them. That might change in time with new technologies but at the moment we can't. So we regularly assess the fisheries that are subject to the most fishing pressure. Sometimes we find a problem and then we set a plan to rebuild the stock in accordance with the Fisheries Act. There's some good news around. The snapper fishery on the East Coast of the North Island has increased in abundance quite significantly in recent years although there are still some local areas of shortage.TIM VAN DE MOLEN (National—Waikato): Thank you Mr Chair. So following on from that I'm interested in his view then around Snapper 8 on the west coast of the North Island in which I understand they're proposing significant increases in the commercial catch there some 1500 tonnes of snapper. So what level of confidence does he have in that given that as I said it seems nearly 20 percent of assessed fish stocks are now considered overfished? Is he putting that limit too high? Would a lower limit perhaps be a more appropriate step to transition through that? Did he give any consideration to different levels or is that 1500 tonne increase where he's been from the start with that? Also then what level of 28N rights will be satisfied as a result of that increase and change to that particular fish stock?Whilst we're on that because I just wonder whether I will have another opportunity I'm going to also move into the recreational aspect. We've seen more recently a lot of media interest and concern around the pink maomao a recreationally caught fish stock currently not subject to a daily catch limit. I wonder if the Minister could give an update on any potential prioritisation he's given to putting a limit in place for fish stocks like pink maomao and whether indeed the Minister would consider—and I've been fortunate to speak to many recreational fishers and they're always very enthusiastic discussions and lots of honest conversations around the size of fish of course. But the feedback I've got from those fishers is that actually there's no reason why we couldn't just have a blanket limit on all recreationally caught fish stocks currently not subject to a catch limit that would stop this sort of issue happening.So I guess my question what I'm asking the Minister is: will he implement a recreational catch limit on all recreationally caught fish stocks currently not subject to a catch limit a blanket limit of perhaps 10 or 15? Surely that's enough on a daily basis. That will at least address that issue in the interim whilst he's perhaps coming up with a more refined and more detailed consultation process to determine the accuracy of particular fish stocks appreciating within that that we can't assess every fish stock as he's noted. But is there any reason why we would need more than 10 or 15 for any daily limit on a recreationally caught species?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for Oceans and Fisheries): I thank the member for those questions. In respect of the decisions in respect of Snapper 8 which is off the west coast of the North Island in the main those decisions have yet to be taken and we're consulting upon them and so I wouldn't speculate on the outcome. There are 28N rights to be dealt with as well as the member obviously knows and those issues are being worked through. In respect of pink maomao I mean I think most New Zealanders were pretty shocked at the fact that the level of greed that was shown in respect of people who were plundering many hundreds of fish was legal because the regulations allow it. So I have sought advice as to whether there needs to be a change to bag limits to incorporate all fish including pink maomao. Those decisions have not yet been taken but we're considering them.