Government says no deal on kahawai

The Government says it has done no deals to reverse the introduction of kahawai into the quota management system.

On Tuesday, the Government introduced a raft of changes to the Fisheries Amendment Bill (No 3) after a select committee had recommended throwing it out.

United Future MP Larry Baldock said his party would support the bill, conditional on the deferring of the introduction of kahawai into quota. He said the changes came on the back of his "substantial discussions" with Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope.

United Future would also table amendments revoking the introduction of kahawai into the quota system, he said.

Some around Parliament assumed that since United Future's support for the bill was dependent on a u-turn over kahawai that a deal had been done. However, Mr Benson-Pope's spokesman said the Government would not be backing United Future's move. "We wouldn't support amendments to change kahawai ... there has been no u-turn," the spokesman said.

Kahawai was a separate issue from the fisheries bill before Parliament, he said.

For United Future to succeed without Labour and Progressive it would need the vote of every other party in Parliament, an unlikely but possible event.

United Future has recently affiliated with the Outdoor Recreation Party, which put out a press release saying it was great to see the changes about kahawai.

Mr Baldock said other aspects of the bill which concerned the committee had also been addressed by the Government.

Parliament's primary production committee said in its report on the bill that most of its members were concerned it changed the allocation system and removed catch history without due consideration.

A major concern was that it tried to include the catch of migratory species in the Quota Management System, whether inside or outside New Zealand waters.

"This would have the effect of capping New Zealand fishers' catch history," the committee said. "In the event of an international or regional agreement being signed, this would leave New Zealand fishers with a lower catch entitlement than they would otherwise have had."

The five National, New Zealand First, Green Party and Act members on the committee recommended against the bill proceeding, while the four Labour members wanted it to continue.

- NZPA