22 November 2008
Limited fish for your chips
28 September 2007
By Eloise Gibson
New Zealand’s biggest commercial fish species has been given the tick of sustainability, despite one of its two stocks dwindling to less than 20 per cent of what it was in the late 1990s.
The hoki industry’s sustainability rating was renewed last week for another five years, after a failed appeal by the Forest and Bird Society.
The renewal comes as Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton announced he was reducing the hoki quota by 10 per cent overall, and requesting the fishing industry to reduce its catch of dwindling west coast stock by nearly 50 per cent.
New Zealand hoki is one of only two large scale fisheries of white fish to carry the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainable tick, giving it preferred access to overseas buyers like Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and McDonald’s.
But Forest and Bird says the certification was “shoddy” and sends the wrong message to the fishing industry.
The society appealed the decision by the London-based marine council to an independent review panel, after the fishery scraped in with a score just 0.01 per cent above the pass mark.
The panel agreed with Forest and Bird that hoki should have been given a lower score, saying it had been certified “by the skin of its teeth”.
However, it could not overturn the marine council’s decision because the appeal was limited to procedural issues.
Checks and Balances
Forest and Bird spokesperson Kevin Hackwell says the decision shows there are not enough checks and balances to stop “dodgy” decisions.
The marine council relies on assessors hired by the fishing companies to assess fisheries against the council’s sustainability criteria.
“[The assessors’] client is the fisheries company, not the marine stewardship council,” says Hackwell.
When the hoki fishery was assessed last year, the assessor reduced its scores on some criteria after hearing from Forest and Bird and the World Wildlife Fund.
However it then increased hoki’s scores against other criteria to give it an overall pass, a decision Hackwell says was “suspicious”.
Richard Wells, of the Deep Water Group of fishing companies, says the decision to certify hoki was fair.
“It passed. You could say only just, and that would be correct, but let’s not forget the pass mark is 80 per cent.”
Wells says Forest and Bird’s view of sustainability is at “one end of the continuum”, and it is up to the New Zealand Government to decide what sustainable means.
“Everyone’s idea of what sustainable means is different.”
“There will always be some who say [a fishery] is not sustainable.”
But Hackwell says leaving it up to the Government is a “cop out”, as the industry has chosen to seek a sustainable rating from the marine council and should meet its standards.
“We want them to have the certification, but it has to mean something.”
Declining stocks
Hoki stocks have declined drastically since the fishery was first certified by the marine council in 2001.
Hackwell says the catch has reduced from 250,000 tonnes in 2001 to about 80,000 tonnes, “and all while it has been certified as sustainable”.
Of New Zealand’s two fisheries, the west coast has declined more than the east.
West coast stocks are now thought to be less that 20 per cent of late 1990s levels.
“We need to close down the west coast fishery or it will not recover,” says Hackwell.
Wells says fishing companies are worried about declining stocks, but blames environmental conditions, not over-fishing for the drop.
He says the fishing industry has acted responsibly by complying with reduced hoki quotas.
“The industry has been prepared to accept quite draconian cuts because we recognise it is needed,” he says.
“There has been a reasonably sudden change [in stocks]. So we need to back off the gas.”
In July, big fishing companies Sealord, Aotearoa Fisheries and Sanford called for the hoki quota for 2007/08 to be cut to 80,000 tonnes from the current level of around 100,000 tonnes.
Hackwell says greed is to blame for falling stocks, and consumers need to be aware of what they are eating.
Forest and Bird publish a Best Fish Guide for consumers worried about sustainability,ranking fisheries from a sustainable‘green light’ to the worst, ‘redlight’ species.
There are currently no fisheries in the sustainable ‘green light’ category, but Hackwell says concerned consumers should eat fish from the top of the ‘orange light’ list, such as terakihi.
“I still enjoy terakihi on a Friday night,” he says.
