Cut in fisheries research

Press, 27 May 1983, Page 10

Cut in fisheries research

Exports of fish and fish products earned New Zealand $235 million last year, an increase of 35 per cent on the previous 12 months. Growth of this kind requires sound fisheries management that is based on adequate research. The Government’s commitment to these tasks last year cost taxpayers $14.1 million. The returns from the industry confirm that this was profitable investment. Earlier this month, the Government decided to decommission the W. J. Scott, one of only three vessels engaged in research for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. To date, nothing has been announced to suggest that a replacement for the W. J. Scott is planned.

The reason for taking the W. J. Scott out of service is the expense in bringing the vessel up to standard to meet its 20-year survey requirements. Estimates of the cost of repairs vary, as do estimates of the ship’s remaining useful life. The Minister of Fisheries, Mr Maclntyre, has said that decommissioning the vessel would save about $845,000 this year and about $380,000 in each of the next two years. The figures have been challenged, and the point has been made that a smaller replacement vessel, about the same size as the Ministry’s Kaharoa, would cost some $3.5 million. Such a vessel, like the Kaharoa, would not have the storage capabilities of the W. J. Scott and would be limited to inshore work. Whatever the merits of the Government’s desire for savings, or of the counter arguments

on behalf of the W. J. Scott’s two crews, tying up the W. J. Scott creates a paradox. The need for adequate research and information to develop New Zealand fisheries to their potential is not challenged. It seems unwise to retrench on such a survey effort when the industry is struggling with the challenges and opportunities of planned development of New Zealand’s 200mile exclusive economic zone. The W. J. Scott was .used more on technological studies of immediate benefit to the industry rather than pure research, although it also was used by research scientists whose only other options have been to charter additional vessels or to rely on invitations to join research done from foreign fishing vessels in New Zealand waters.

Ideally, the W. J. Scott will be replaced by a more modern vessel capable of inshore and deepwater voyages and equipped for both research and management surveys. Official statements about the removal of the W. J. Scott from service have avoided any mention of the Government’s intentions. Will the vessel be replaced and, if so, when? Or will the research and management efforts be permanently pruned by a third? To rely increasingly on occasional charters, or on rides hitched aboard foreign fishing boats, to increase New Zealand’s understanding of the resources off its shores does not suggest a serious attempt to develop New Zealand fisheries for the benefit of New Zealand.