Despite the recent declaration by New Zealand’s fisheries and aquaculture minister Phil Heatley that the western hoki stock had been rebuilt, there’s been a call for a “precautionary approach” to raised quotas.
“We see no reason to rush through another increase” said Eric Barratt, managing director of Sanford in a letter to Mr Heatley. He added, further research work already planned to take place would provide more certainty in the wisdom of the move.
Just a few months ago, Mr Heatley announced that the western hoki stock was thriving, through the intervention of significant catch reductions over the years. As a result, the country is considering raising the 2011-12 TACC (total allowable commercial catch) for the stock by 10,000 metric tons. A decision is expected around the onset of the country’s fishing season, which starts at the beginning of October.
Hoki became the world’s first major whitefish fishery to gain Marine Stewardship Council sustainability certification in 2001, a time when it boasted a 250,000 metric ton quota. But the fishery has experienced depletion and numerous catch reductions since then, falling by 64% just seven years later and only recovering to 120,000 metric tons last year.
Mr Barratt points out that, including transfers, since 2009 there has been another 105,000mt of hoki taken from the western stock “without having seriously measured the impact of this additional extraction”. In Sanford’s opinion it is time to pause, “A further increase this year is too much, too fast,” says Mr Barratt.
Sanford commissioned a report by Dr Kevin Stokes and shared this with others active in the hoki fishery. Response has been positive and a number of quota owners are now supportive of maintaining the status quo.
Mr Barratt says, “In time, the hoki fishery will again be robust enough to support a higher TACC,” but he points out this should be supported by the data gathered over the next year.
