Talks on salmon handling

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 9

Talks on salmon handling

The New Zealand fishing industry is considering new proposals on handling salmon accidentally caught at sea. The issue, described last season as the most contentious problem facing the industry, arises because of disagreements over the ownership of salmon netted as a bycatch by trawlers after other species. Since ocean ranching of salmon began in New Zealand, salmon farmers have said that many of the fish caught are their own, and they have wanted the right to process and market them. The problem has been giving the trawlermen a fair return for their time

and effort — not so little that they are tempted into illegal black marketing of the valuable fish, nor so much that they are tempted into target fishing. A body known as the by-catch committee met in Christchurch last week to draw up new rules for the coming season. The committee brought together fishermen, boat owners, processors, salmon farmers, and acclimatisation societies under the chairmanship of the Fishing Industry Board. They reached the basis of an agreement, according to the chairman, Mr Andrew Branson. , He emphasised the cooperative nature of the

meeting. “The issue has been contentious in the past, but we are putting that behind us,” he said. The point was to make sure that by-catch salmon were landed “so that we know about it so that dealings in salmon are above board, known, and subject to appropriate discipline and control,” Mr Branson said. At this stage, however, Mr Branson would not be specific about the agreement the industry hoped to have in place for next season. Details would be worked out in the coming weeks and circulated among the parties for their approval at the end" of July. Mr Branson believed

that the necessary changes could be made without changes to regulations, although if that were necessary he was confident of the co-opera-tion of the Ministry of Fisheries and the Government. The salmon by-catch was a very small proportion of the total catch. Some arguments had been presented that it amounted to 10 to 15 per cent, but the Ministry’s Research Division’s report suggested it was only 0.75 per cent by weight The figures showed that about 42 tonnes of salmon was landed as a by-catch last season. Of that, 11 tonnes were hatchery fish, and 31. tonnes of wild origin.