Axe taken to $300m hoki quota

The Government has taken drastic steps to rebuild the deepwater hoki fishery, slashing the allowable commercial catch by 80,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes.

Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope said the change would take effect from next Friday.

The move was widely expected, but it is further bad news for an industry which has been hit by the high dollar, rising fuel costs and a sluggish international market.

Benson-Pope's moves comes a year after former minister Pete Hodgson reduced the commercial catch by 10 per cent to 180,000 tonnes at the request of the industry.

In 2001, the catch was 250,000 tonnes a year.

The new catch allowances will be split between fisheries off the South Island west coast (40,000 tonnes) and its east coast (60,000 tonnes).

Benson-Pope this month warned hoki fishers to shape up or expect "massive cuts" to the quota.

On August 13, Nelson fishing company Sealord said it was voluntarily pulling out of a key hoki fishing ground to let it rebuild.

Sealord wanted to set an example by complying with a code of practice requiring fishing companies to withdraw vessels from the Hokitika Trench area after August 20.

Sealord holds 30 per cent of the national quota for hoki, a species worth about $300 million a year in national export earnings.

Listed fishing company Sanford supported the move, saying: "While there was considerable pressure on the minister not to make the cut as severe, we applaud his decision."

Sanford said it would allow hoki to recover.

Benson-Pope said stock estimates showed urgent action needed to be taken to reduce the catch.

"Estimates for hoki on the western spawning grounds have the species at only 13 to 22 per cent of its original, unfished size," he said.

Stocks on the eastern side of the South Island were judged to be at sustainable levels.

Scientists believed that mixing of juvenile hoki from the eastern and western populations took place on the Chatham Rise, off the Chatham Islands.

Increased harvest from the Chatham Rise may have affected the number of fish going to western stocks.

"It is vital to give the stock every chance of rebuilding as fast as possible," Benson-Pope said.

"The gradual reductions in catch allowances made in recent years have not arrested its decline.

"A more significant cut is needed now.

"My long-term aim is to ensure that the full benefit of the hoki fishery is available to current and future generations."

Benson-Pope said the level he had set was the lowest of three options put to him.

"It does match the reality the industry faces."

This year, it was likely fishers would take about 60,000 tonnes less than the 180,000-tonne allowable catch.

"Many companies have already taken steps to reduce capacity," he said.

He looked forward to the industry complying with its own code of practice to help rebuild hoki stock, and said it he would use "regulatory measures" if this did not happen.

Ling, rig, hake, kina, orange roughy, school shark and sea perch allowances were also gazetted yesterday.

Nelson independent fishing boat owner-operator Tony Roach said the domestic fleet easily had the capacity to catch 100,000 tonnes.

But many operators would go to the wall if they had to compete with joint-venture boats for quota leasing rights.

"We've got more than enough of our own vessels to catch this fish so the use of these joint venture boats is criminal."

- NZPA