KEY POINTS:
Recreational fishers want the Appeal Court to confirm that principles decided in March for kahawai should also apply to other species in "shared fisheries".
Success would mean the Government having to consider the social well-being of amateur anglers, and sustainability, when setting total catch limits for popular fish such as snapper, rock lobster, paua, blue cod, and kingfish.
The Big Game Fishing Council and the Recreational Fishing Council earlier this year won a judicial review over the way decisions are made on kahawai. Now they have lodged a cross-appeal on a narrow point in that High Court case which will keep them involved in the Appeal Court.
The appeal will cost the groups $80,000, but Richard Baker of the Big Game Fishing Council said they needed to continue participating because commercial fishers had appealed.
"It was considered important to support Justice Rhys Harrison's High Court decision that sustainability comes first and providing for people's well-being is a mandatory requirement when the minister sets commercial catch limits," the lobbyists said.
The drive by the anglers for better protection of recreational fishing grounds from commercial fishers led to their initial High Court request for a judicial review.
In March, Justice Harrison ordered the Government to review the kahawai allowance made to recreational anglers in 2004 and 2005. Effectively, he said the Fisheries Minister must make decisions which take into account the social, economic and cultural well-being of recreational and Maori anglers as a starting point, before there is any allocation to the fishing industry.
Since then Sanford, Sealord Group and Pelagic and Tuna NZ have appealed against the High Court decision, which rejected all but one of the challenges they made alleging flaws in ministerial decisions.
Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton yesterday told commercial fishers in Wellington that some of them "who thought they were being clever" by trying to torpedo his own push for a "shared fisheries" approach got a "rude shock" when Justice Harrison handed down his findings.
"The judgment has profound implications for the commercial sector," he told an industry conference at Te Papa.
"If the Court of Appeal upholds the findings of Justice Harrison then I, and future ministers, will be providing for the social, cultural and economic well-being of recreational fishers without much guidance or certainty," he said.
Mr Anderton is seeking a law-change in the Fishing Bill which would require a precautionary approach biased toward sustainability where there was insufficient information in setting allowable catch limits.
- NZPA
