Bidois DanDAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): It's a pleasure to rise and be the last speaker of this reading to round out the debate today in support of the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I would just like to acknowledge Matua Shane for bringing this bill to the House and continuing this bill from the previous Government. I also would like to acknowledge Rachel Brooking the original author of this bill. It's actually rare that I get to speak on bills that have unanimous agreement in the House and so it is with pride that I get up and acknowledge that we all have I think a very rare moment of unanimity behind protecting our fishery sector by upholding and strengthening the seafood sector and also upholding New Zealand's reputation as a country that values sustainable fisheries and that has world-leading regulations and laws as a result.Look this law—we've traversed the various aspects of it. It is updating legislation that has come into force 25 years ago and does a lot to crack down on what is a very big problem globally actually. And I did value the contribution from Mark Cameron and others that tried to quantify the problem because it is quite large. And for those of you at home that are asking yourselves Actually is this a big issue for New Zealand and for the world?" Well yes it is. Anywhere between 18 and 14 million tonnes annually are alleged to be from illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. That has a street value of anywhere from US$9 billion to US$16 billion. But what about closer to home? Well closer to home we've heard that actually in our own backyard in the Pacific illegal and unregulated and unreported fishing is in the estimated range of around $300 million per annum—that's US dollars.So it is a significant problem and this bill tries to actually resolve that problem and it tries to by a number of ways: by increasing the penalties for those who are engaged in IUU activities in our international waters but also by broadening the scope for such illegal activities as well. There is a whole range of other things that it does in terms of controlling the permits for New Zealand vessels but also for other vessels from overseas and more tightly controlling those permits for regulated markets and fishing in our international waters.But I've also heard some great contributions from my own side here around I think the value of our fisheries sector. And I think the honourable member from Tukituki Catherine Wedd was very proud in articulating that it was a $2 billion contribution to our sector and our exports annually.And having lived overseas—I've lived in Europe and Asia and in America—you can see New Zealand fish in supermarkets and yes it is at a premium but it's also at a premium in restaurants overseas. And having dined in some restaurants in a lot of countries it made me very proud to eat New Zealand fish and dine on New Zealand fish. It is actually at a premium and you'll be surprised. You know sometimes I have to pay 40-odd euros for a nice fresh New Zealand fish in the streets of Paris.So it's a hugely important sector for this country a hugely important sector for workers. There's about 16000 workers in our fisheries sector so we want to protect that. We want to uphold New Zealand's reputation and it is my privilege and pleasure to commend this bill to the House and also to wish you all a very safe and happy Easter break.Bill read a first time.Bill referred to the Primary Production Committee."