Fishing regulations criticised

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32902, 28 April 1972, Page 10

Fishing regulations criticised

Armchair scientists and bureaucrats were making it virtually impossible for the fishing industry to survive, and the proposed regulations to control the manning of fishing boats might strangle the industry completely, according to the Lyttelton Fisherman’s Association. In a statement issued by the association’s executive yesterday, it was claimed that if the proposed manning changes took place, hundreds of fishing vessels would face economic upheaval. “At a time when the New Zealand fishing industry is reeling from spiralling costs and decreasing incomes, the Marine Department is contemplating legislation which may strangle the industry completely,” the statement said.

“Commercial fishermen have enjoyed no increase in price for the fish they catch over the last 12 years.” The association said that commercial fishermen throughout New Zealand had set up a national organisation, one task of which was to confer with the Marine Department on regulations necessary for the industry.

"The Marine Department was most reluctant to become involved, particularly in the survey of fishing vessels and in the manning of fishing vessels. This is fairly obvious when it took 14 years to obtain the manning regulations in 1965,” the statement said. “Since then the Marine Department has really swung into action and the industry has been inundated with regulations. There are survey regulations, manning regulations, radio rules and regulations, compass regulations, just to name a few. “It is nothing for a new set

of regulations to have 60 or 70 different clauses and to cover a multitude of sheets of paper, and now, more highly qualified skippers and engineers are being demanded to replace.men who, with the department’s blessing have operated fishing vessels and cared for their own engines round the New Zealand coast for years. “In other words, the genuine desire of sensible men to have moderate regulations of their industry has turned into a nightmare of ever increasing regulations which in certain cases are incapable of being enforced by those responsible for their promulgation,” the statement said. Virtually all boats engaged in fishing, some of which are operated by one man, would now have to employ another man, the association said. The extra man would not be for reasons of safety, nor to assist with fishing, but only to satisfy a regulation. “In the 50ft to 90ft class

of fishing boat the proposed new regulations will make necessary the employment of a diesel engineer even though the master already holds this qualification. “In fact, many of the masters of this class do hold this qualification. The work which a diesel engineer could do at sea is negligible. This would mean that the owner of this type of fishing vessel could find himself in the position of having to employ an engineer who is nothing more than a passenger. “Where does the industry find this additional qualified personnel when it is already desperately short of them? Skilled personnel have been at a premium in New Zealand for a number of years, and there is no doubt that if these manning changes take place, hundreds of fishing vessels will face economic upheaval. “As an industry, we Wish to make progress because of the Marine Department and not in spite of it.”