The University of Auckland researcher whose team sparked a national debate with a study alleging widespread under-reporting and dumping of fish says the dumped catches should be developed into products for new export markets.
Dr Glenn Simmons, a research fellow at the New Zealand Asia Institute, says the answer to the waste of fish in New Zealand waters requires a "business solution" and a "sustainability solution", close to the strategy adopted by Iceland's much larger fishing industry when faced with similar problems.
The report, led by Simmons, was part of a 15-year research project assessing the total global marine catch. It found over 60 years of under-reporting - putting the true New Zealand catch at 2.7 times the 14 million tonnes officially reported for the period 1950-2010. An extended estimate for 1950-2013 showed 24.7 million tonnes of fish unreported, compared to 15.3 million tonnes reported.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has announced an independent review after leaked reports also raised questions around the potential scale of the problem and how MPI has dealt with the situation. It has stirred political controversy with opposition parties calling for a broader, independent inquiry.
Simmons believes new thinking and approaches are needed to reduce incentives to dump fish at sea - like the law requiring discarding of fish less than minimum legal size, such as snapper. Possession of such fish is a criminal offence.
"Up until 2014 there was no requirement or procedure to report these legal discards," he says. "The SNX code was introduced to enable fishers to report catches of undersized snapper in Area 1 [from North Cape to Cape Runaway near East Cape] but fishers must still discard them.
"That creates substantial waste. Why are we throwing fish away? It is a wasted resource, when new markets could be developed for such 'small fish'."
Simmons says the problem is linked to outdated law, the quota system and penalties making it more economic for fishers to dump small and so-called "low value" fish - retaining high-value catches. Incentives were needed to land all fish and develop markets for new, added-value products.
Asian consumers, in particular, would be keen to take New Zealand products developed and packaged for those markets - such as dried fish, used for making stock for soups and seafood dishes.
"They will pay good money for quality products, irrespective of size. We also have a big multi-cultural population in New Zealand and a large Asian community, especially in Auckland; there is a demand for such products.
"We do a lot of talking as a country about innovation and de-commoditising our value chains, producing more added-value exports - we talk about it but we don't always do much of it. Here's a chance to stop this waste and take the industry in a new direction with new revenue streams.
"That's what Iceland did in the late 1990s. They ended their discarding at sea rules and changed their focus. Their fishing industry complained but, at the end of the day, it was the catalyst needed for transformation.
"They quickly turned their industry into one producing high-value products which not only increased the revenues of the fishing businesses but also became a big export earner. They developed super chilling technology and improved drying technology - using geothermal energy to dry some of the catch, particularly previously unwanted by-catch.
"They created entirely new markets in Africa and Europe, much of it for dried fish which does not go off. They developed new pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products and fashion products from fish skins. In just 10 years, production of by-products increased nearly 10-fold.
"The fish fillet became the by-product. That is the opportunity we have here."
Simmons says such an approach would only work in New Zealand if it is part of a broader transition away from "low road" fishing practices towards higher-value- adding and new value-adding ones, recognising "fish as a scarce and valuable resource".
Asked if landing undersized fish would deplete fish stocks, Simmons says: "It didn't in Iceland; landing small fish was combined with incentives not to catch them in the first place, using selective nets. Companies earned revenue from everything they caught, there was no waste - so they became more forward-looking when it came to looking after fish stocks."
However, he believes the New Zealand fishing industry will be reluctant to make that move themselves and will have to be directed to do so by a government concerned enough at the waste to revise the approach to New Zealand fishing.
"It has to come from the government; the industry will complain long and loud. One fisherman told us in our research that, if you can't fillet it and deep-fry it, it's not worth anything.
"That's just wrong; we have to change that thinking."