Stanford Erica; Sage EugenieERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Mr Chair. In 2014 the Government of the time as the Minister will know established a marine reserve—39 percent of the territorial sea around the Campbell Islands to protect marine species and their habitat. Now obviously the Minister's well aware that this legislation required an independent review within five years to consider whether or not the remaining 61 percent should be included in that reserve as well. Now in February the recommendation by the consultant was clearly that the Minister should extend that marine reserve and the decision was due in March—so the decision took a while to come through; it wasn't until June.The questions I have for the Minister are: why was the decision delayed? What was the reason for the decision against the consultant's clear recommendations? How much influence did the fishing industry have on this? Did the Minister herself want to protect the remaining 61 percent and why didn't she? And is this indicative of a wider problem in terms of a lack of progress with any other marine reserves in her term for example the Kermadecs? I'll leave it at that just for now. I've got more questions relating to a slightly different topic but if the Minister would like to speak to those questions that would be appreciated.Hon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): Mr Chair thank you. So certainly the legislation did provide for an independent review and that review did recommend that the reserve be extended to—the independent review there was a decision that had to be made by myself and the Minister of Fisheries. Ngāi Tahu raised some concerns and the Minister of Fisheries in response to those concerns did not agree to the extension so it did not proceed. That has been stated publicly so it should have been known.In terms of the influence of the fishing industry: in the marine space the fishing industry is obviously a significant stakeholder. We have working with the Minister of Fisheries significantly strengthened the threat management plan for Hector's and Māui dolphins; are in the process of expanding marine mammal sanctuaries improving the protections so that those sanctuaries are not Clayton's sanctuaries as they were under the former Government; and to ban seabed mining and seismic surveys except for current interests in those sanctuaries. I reject the assertion that we're not making progress on marine protection.The south-east marine protected areas are out for public consultation until early August. That was interrupted by COVID. That is implementing the recommendations of the collaborative group. In the Hauraki Gulf this Government has moved—myself and the Minister of Fisheries—to establish a ministerial advisory committee to provide advice on the recommendations that came out of Tai Timu Tai Pari the Hauraki Gulf sea change plan. Those recommendations are expected shortly so looking forward to them. So there is certainly progress in terms of marine mammal sanctuaries the South-east Otago and work being done in terms of policy work that's needed to reform our marine protected areas legislation. There is a programme of work that is well under way.ERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays): Thank you Mr Chair. Leading on from that it seems that the answer from the Minister in the chair the Hon Eugenie Sage is indicating that there has been some real to-ing and fro-ing between her and the Minister of Fisheries and it seems that the Minister of Fisheries has won out because we haven't had any new marine reserves in three years. But I guess the way that leads into my next question is that we've got 15000 I think it is—if I remember correctly—seabirds dying every year and I want to know what the Minister's opinion is on cameras on fishing boats because I think that—Hon Scott Simpson: She used to like them. ERICA STANFORD: She used to like them—that's true Mr Simpson. She used to like them. She used to advocate for them but in the three years we've seen hardly any additional cameras on fishing boats and our seabirds—especially some of those that are very threatened—continue to perish. It would be helpful for the Minister to explain to us: is it the same to-ing and fro-ing with the Minister of Fisheries and the fishing interests with certain parties in her governing arrangements that are pushing back against having cameras on fishing boats to protect our seabirds? Hon EUGENIE SAGE (Minister of Conservation): The member should be aware of the revision of the National Plan of Action—Seabirds 2020. There is a new vision statement in that document about working to reduce to zero the bycatch of seabirds because too many seabirds are dying in fishing nets. This Government has also through Budget 2018 and the significant increase in funding for biodiversity enabled Te Papa Atawhai to employ fisheries liaison officers who work with the masters of individual fishing vessels to ensure that they have got in place the tori lines and the other measures to reduce seabird bycatch—so that is individualised working with fisheries vessels. So the work on the national plan of action on seabirds was done with the Minister of Fisheries. We worked together on issues of mutual interest and we have significantly strengthened that plan and have a goal of working towards the zero bycatch of seabirds. Vote Conservation Vote Environment and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment agreed to.