THE PRESS TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1978. Fishing-a growth industry7

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 16

THE PRESS TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1978. Fishing-a growth industry 7

The dramatic expansion of the New Zealand fishing industry is bringing its problems. The industry’s most serious problem is that the fish being caught have to be stored because export markets are not available at present. The result is that some fishing boats have been given limits so that the catches do not exceed storage. Another problem lies in finding a sufficient number of highly trained captains for the larger boats which are being acquired. A third lies in the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to find sufficient men to work on the management of the resources of the 200-miie zone. Suggestions have also been made that investors, attracted by the industry’s expansion, might find themselves in financial difficulties.

Most of these problems, and others, come to the surface at the annual conference of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen, which was held in Timaru last week. Nevertheless, the general outlook was optimistic and the expansion shows no sign of being curtailed. The industry is facing a number of probably short-term problems brought about partly by the accelerated expansion since the advent of the 200mile zones. The industry is really learning from experience.

New Zealand fishing firms are buying bigger vessels. Many now exceed 21 metres. While new vessels are not as large as many of the foreign fishing

vessels around New Zealand, they enable New Zealand fishermen to put to sea for several days and to trawl or use long lines in much deeper water than the former inshore fishing fleet could manage. Incentives to use bigger boats were given in the last two Budgets and these have encouraged the buying of larger ships. An obvious challenge is that the fish caught from the larger ships will have to be sold overseas. The revolutionised fishing industry has to be an export industry.

One of the reasons for the stockpiling of fish in New Zealand is that Japan appears to have huge stocks of fish, bought at high prices and apparently stored while the question of 200mile zones was being sorted out. Until Japan disposes of its stockpile it is unlikely to be seeking more fish. Australia, which has also been a big market for New Zealand fish, is expanding its own industry. The world trade in fish is still suffering the effects of the introduction of 200-mile zones.

Apart from these world problems, this summer was a particularly good one for fishing around New Zealand. No reason exists to believe other than that the industry is capable of further expansion, yet marketing should receive considerable attention from both the industry’ and the Government. Joint ventures, if they give access to overseas markets, must be one of the options to be considered.