Joint fishing venture

Press, 21 December 1978, Page 16

Joint fishing venture

The fishing venture to be undertaken jointly by two New Zealand firms and a West German firm should at least provide an opportunity to find out if such joint ventures do what the Government hopes they will. The year that has been granted should be enough to evaluate the experiment. A shorter time might have been unfair as well as poor business; a longer time might have institutionalised an arrangement which needed to be put into practice to see if it worked, but which should be cancelled if it does not.

Because of the declaration of the 200-mile fishing zone, New Zealand is able to control the fishing of the area. Foreign fishermen are allowed within the 200-mile zone only in two ways. Their Government may come to some arrangement with the New Zealand Government so that the fishermen are licensed — Japan, South Korea, and the Soviet Union have reached such agreements — or firms may enter into joint ventures — such as the one which has been arranged with West Germany, the first since the introduction of the zone

If all goes well, both New Zealand and West Germany should benefit. The criteria on which New Zealand based its selection (the Government, not just the two New Zealand firms concerned were involved) are various. It is intended that New Zealand should gain

from the contribution of the joint venture to the development of the New Zealand fishing industry. The present venture is designed to fish beyond 12 miles from the shore where few of the present New Zealand fishing fleet work. From a transfer of technology New Zealand fishermen should learn more about the catching and processing techniques. New Zealand should also gain from the opportunities for employment. With any luck export earnings will be increased. The marketing expertise of the West German firm should also help the problems of access to markets. Such experience should contribute to the building up of New Zealand’s own fishing capabilities. For the West Germans, the gains will be in employment of fishermen, access to the fish, and in the commercial benefits of the whole venture

Yet the advantages and disadvantages cannot all be assessed in the abstract. This is not the first joint venture in which New Zealand fishing firms have engaged, although it is the first since the introduction of the zone. Human problems such as the ability of differing people to work together under stress at sea, the ability' of firms to cooperate to their mutual advantage, and the actual advantages as opposed to the theoretical advantages have to be counted. It would be a gross mistake to view the arrangement as more than an experiment.