Menéndez March RicardoRICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. It's a privilege to speak on the third reading of the Fisheries Amendment Bill. Like the previous speaker I would like to begin by acknowledging the Primary Production Committee members who examined this bill the staff that supported them and the advisers—particularly acknowledging my colleague Eugenie Sage who has been making previous contributions on this bill and who we know cares deeply about the wellbeing of our oceans.Western science is catching up to what indigenous peoples have practised and told us for many many generations. To quote Dr Alison Collins who is the Chief Science Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment she talked about how Our seas are the meeting place of land freshwater and skies and thus the ultimate receiving environment vulnerable to the cumulative pressures that result from our daily activities."This is what this bill is trying to address in part: to find a better balance between the extractor practices that we have been able for generations and the wellbeing of our environment. When this bill was first introduced some of its aims were around introducing further penalties to allow for a fisheries regime with greater monitoring and thus more capture of offending—I note that the member for National talked plenty about that—changes to landing rules to require that all fish caught be landed with some exceptions; things such as creating a new defence in cases of dumping fish in a net to allow release of protected species such as dolphins streamlines the process for setting and varying catch limits with new pre-set decision rules as well as approval process for disposal of unwanted catch on land; as well as further technical changes related to monitoring.One of the things that we took note of as the bill went through and was introduced was the sort of frame around rather than protecting our oceans and being part of the ecosystem to create the conditions for innovation within the industry. We do think that there was a missed opportunity to take a more ecosystem-based approach when it came to how we approached this legislation.As the process went through and we finished the select committee report and as NGOs activists and other people who deeply care about the wellbeing of our oceans contributed we're really happy to see the Government change tact in terms of the decisions around this bill.One of the things that we were really pleased to see was the removal of provisions in the Fisheries Amendment Bill which establish pre-set decision rules. This is important because the rules would have limited the public's ability to comment on significant changes to commercial catch regimes and risk favouring the interests of commercial fishers over oceans' health. The reality is the fish which we consume rely on thriving ecosystems not just a spreadsheet. This is why it was so important that we change these rules which initially officials would have been able to use a predetermined framework to make decisions about recreational bag limits and total commercial catch limits. We're really stoked that the Minister has changed his mind on this after pressure from the Greens but the work still continues. For us we remain concerned about the fact that we're still not doing enough on preventing the bycatch of seabird seals dolphins and other protected species.One of the things that we'll continue pushing as I said earlier is about taking a much more holistic approach particularly on ecosystem management. That would actually allow us to take into account how fisheries interact with the marine ecosystem rather than just considering species in isolation.As I said in my opening remarks everything is connected. As we tackle the climate crisis we also have to confront that realities that the systems that led to the climate crisis are also leading to a biodiversity crisis and that in itself actually puts the industry at risk. This is why we need to reframe from thinking of fisheries as purely from an industry lens and actually from an ecosystem lens.For us it is really important that despite our support of the bill we acknowledge the changes that we need to continue working towards and we'll continue putting healthy oceans and sustainable fisheries first. Hopefully with sustained pressure the Government will listen and do more. Kia ora."