Ministry of Fisheries – 2002-2004
New Zealand has a large and valuable sea fisheries resource, which it has managed under an individual transferable quota (ITQ) system for more than twenty years. During this time, it has evolved its management, science and enforcement techniques. Using both local and international experience, it rewrote its Fisheries Act in 1996, with a strong focus on separation of rights and management, and to take account of the settlements with Maori, the indigenous people.
Most of the provisions of the 1996 Act came into force in 2000. By then, the Ministry of Fisheries had changed, but further significant changes remained. A small team, under the leadership of Mike Pownall of Lucid Consulting, developed an Alignment Programme for the National Manager, Fisheries Management, which identified a path to deliver the remaining changes. The Ministry has been following this plan for the past two and a half years. The path is complex and difficult, and it will be several more years before the new approach will be fully introduced and bedded-in.
A 1999 amendment to the 1996 Act provides for Fisheries Plans, where stakeholders (particularly quota holders) can provide independent advice to the Minister of Fisheries and, if the advice is acceptable, take over some or all of the management of their fishery. Lucid Consulting was asked by the Ministry to independently assist a Maori tribe and associated commercial fishers who were investigating the development of a Fisheries Plan for Eels within the tribal area. The work revealed the difficulties faced by such an activity, particularly where competing objectives for the fishery need to be reconciled (not hidden). Negotiations were successful and the objectives were agreed, but circumstances changed so the resulting plan was not submitted to the Minster.
The 2004/8 the Ministry's Statement of Intent stated that it would use a Fisheries Intervention Plan (FIP) to 'prioritise fisheries management services to be delivered by the Ministry in future years'. In 2004, Mike Pownall was asked to identify a preferred method to define the Fisheries Intervention Plan, and an implementation plan. This fitted in with the Alignment Programme noted above.
Also in 2004, Mike was asked to assist the Ministry to produce a strategy for the development of its information handling capabilities. This followed on from the work noted above and from a review of the Ministry's geospatial data needs in 2000. The Information Strategy is still underway (early 2005).
Fisheries Management is a complex area with inherent uncertainty and risk. There are no easy answers and solutions evolve, often over decades. It is critical that plans provide flexibility to adapt as understanding grows. In these circumstances it is important to avoid 'paralysis by uncertainty', and it is often necessary to take action even where there is high uncertainty.
© 2005 Lucid Consulting Limited