Trawling allocations

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 6

Trawling allocations

Parliamentary reporter

The Government has agreed on a strategy for the development of New Zealand’s deep-water fishery, said the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr MacIntyre, yesterday. Mr Maclntyre said the main feature of the strategy, effective from April 1 next year, was the allocation of trawling rights to fishing companies seeking deepwater species. Five of the nine companies which have been given trawling rights are based in the South Island and' two of the South Island companies have been included in the allocation for the first time.

Mr Maclntyre said that

under the new strategy, the duty-free scheme for trawlers longer than 40m would be reinstated, although applications to import vessels would be scrutinised by the Shipbuilding Industry Overview Committee.

• All vessels 40m and longer would be excluded from fishing within the 12-mile territorial waters, from all of area B which was off the east coast of the North Island, and from the other areas now closed to foreign trawling. Mr Maclntyre said that 1 the allocations of trawling rights to individual companies was based on a discussion paper released earlier this year.

The companies which have been allocated trawling rights are Sealord, with 20.4 per cent of the total allocation; Fletcher Fishing-Jaybel, 23.2 per cent; Sanford-Feron, 20.4 per cent; Amaltal, 8.3 per cent; Skeggs, 8.9 per cent; Wanganui Trawlers, 4.3 per cent; Watties, 3.7 per cent; South Island Deep Sea Fishing Company, 3.3 per cent; and Southland Fish Processors Co-operative, 1.7 per cent. Individual owner-operators who were capable of fishing ■the deep water had been allocated 5.8 per cent. The allocation was open to competitive fishing until the quota for each species had been met.

The allocations covered hoki. orange roughy, oreo dory, trawl, ling, silver warehou, hake, and squid. The total annual tonnage is 130,100.

The secretary of the Federation. of ’ Commercial Fishermen, Mr Howard Stone, would not comment on the announcement last evening. He said he would make a statement after he had studied the plan. However, the plan is unlikely to have pleased any of those who sought an allocation. The federation had asked for 23 per cent, and Sealord Products’ chairman, Mr Richard Carter, said last July that his company deserved 35 per cent.