Rubbish control on squid boats a ‘possibility’

Press, 15 July 1978, Page 2

Rubbish control on squid boats a ‘possibility’

. .Wellington reporter Control over rubbish thrown overboard by vessels fishing off the New Zealand coast may now be possible for the first time, says the Ministry of Transport.

The Ministry gave its opinion after reports in “The Press” yesterday of light bulbs as big as half-gallon jars being washed up on North Canterbury beaches. T’ bulbs are believed to hav been thrown overboard from Japanese squid boats. Some of the bulbs have been found shattered, their jagged edges sticking up through the sand. They pose a danger to people using the beaches, and are extremely hazardous for young children with bare feet. Pollution and littering of beaches is a responsibility of the Marine Division of the Ministry of Transport. However, if conditions against such actions are to be included in licences for foreign vessels to fish within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, then that will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Fisheries. The conditions included in the licences tend to be on technical fishing matters, but there is provision in the legislation for wider conditions to be imposed. However, the Minister of Transport (Mr McLachlan) considers such a condition would be very difficult to police as it would be nearly impossible to identify which of a number of vessels had infringed the condition by throwing rubbish overboard. This problem could be overcome only when a New Zealand observer on board actually saw the rubbish 1 :in ; thrown overboard. So far, no condition re-1 stricting throwing of rubbish i overboard has been written! into any licence, but negotiations with the Japanese] for access to fish for squid, have yet to begin. *