Fish and chips at risk from quota system?

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 1

Fish and chips at risk from quota system?

By

PETER LUKE

That great New Zealand meal of fish and chips will never be the same again because of the Government’s fishing policy, say Akaroa fishermen.

The traditional battered pieces of elephant fish and rig would soon be priced out of the fish and chip market, said the president of the Akaroa Fishermen’s Association, Mr Alan Reid. Elephant fish and rig catches had taken “a hammering” under the Government’s new quota system which was introduced on October 1, he said. In effect, the quota system will mean that the elephant fish and rig catches have been reduced 72 per cent from their two best years between 1982 and 1984. The reduced catches were needed to preserve future resources, especially for elephant fish and rig which were “pretty well wiped out,” said a supervising fishing officer in the Ministry of Fisher-

ies, Mr Bill Gillespie. Mr Reid has no argument with the need to preserve resources. He said, however, that reductions in catches could have been phased in. The quotas, which were intended to preserve endangered stocks, could have the effect of putting fishermen on the endangered list, he said. Not all Akaroa’s 16 professional fishermen are dependent on elephant fish or rig. Some, like Mr Reid, spend most of their time catching crayfish, and about four months fishing for groper. Groper quotas have also been cut 62 per cent. Mr Reid said that his own quota had been reduced from eight tonnes to three tonnes. “I could catch my quota in about five days,” he said. Mr Reid predicted that

some of Akaroa’s fishermen would opt out of the industry because of the quotas. This could lead to the death of the private fisherman, as quotas were sold to companies. Fish prices in Christchurch would rise, and one of Akaroa’s three main money-earners would be lost. “This town survives on farming and fishing and tourism. The farming is in trouble, and now it is our turn,” he said. The export manager of United Fisheries, Ltd, Mr Gerry Yorke, agreed that the quotas would lead to a dramatic increase in fish prices in Christchurch. Elephant fish and rig would probably not be the staple diet of fish and chip eaters, but this had not been an overnight change, he said. The shortage of these two species over the last

few seasons, which was the reason for the severe quotas, had meant that many shops had shifted to hoki, which was about half the price. A spokesman for the Christchurch Fish Retailers’ Association, Mr Mike Reitsma, said some retailers had probably begun to hoard elephant fish and rig against a future shortage. Next week his association hoped to present a petition opposing the new quota system to the Minister of Fisheries, Mr Moyle. The petition calls for changes to prevent fishermen being forced to dump fish caught in excess of their quota. The association also wants the existing deep-sea fish quotas available to non-quota holding companies, so that exporters do not encroach on the local supply.