Allowing the Fox to video the Hen house – fishing industry corruption a stench on us all

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Allowing the Fishing Industry to police their own boats in the wake of a damning report that suggests that over the last 50 years the fishing industry has stolen over 20 million tonnes of fish is like allowing the Fox to video the hen house.

Fishing industry monitoring own boats – Greenpeace

The government has awarded a contract to carry out surveillance on fishing boats to a company owned by the largest players in the country’s fishing industry.

You can’t have a situation where the commercial players are immune from scrutiny while recreational fisher folk are getting punished and allowing the industry to police itself in this manner is a joke.

Our fishery stock are a national treasure and we demand they are protected and sustained, but the manner in which the Ministry of Primary Industries has turned a blind eye to 24 million tonnes of over fishing calls for a full inquirey and wide ranging inquest. What has been suggested by National will simply cover butts and protect industry players. This idea of allowing a company owned by the industry to pretend independence is an insult to the debate and shows the fishing industry has no intention of voluntarily being responsible.

There is a stench of corruption hanging over the fishing industry. Include the slavery ships where crew are regularly raped, beaten and sexually abused and we have an industry that is corrosive and toxic. It is no surprise to me that the National Party President has deep interests in the fishing industry when the response is as tepid as this.

15 COMMENTS

  1. Yes Martyn it stinks,

    And the opposition should solidly shame them and take this whole issue out of this grubby Government hands!!!

    Is there an International Court of conduct? or ocean commodities or fisheries able to be used here?

    Or a court of Government corruption practices?

    Very fishy method of offering assurance akin to how the mafia operated in the 1920’s remember?

    Quite possibly the mafia are in control of this corrupt Government enterprise as well?

  2. When David Cunliffe said the fishing industry was “corrupt” on one of your recent shows, he spoke as someone who does not say a thing like that lightly and as someone who knows what he is talking about – that moment defined the fishing industry for me from here on. I’d never seen it quite like that before but now I have no doubt it is corrupt on a wholesale level.

  3. That’s how it works these days Martyn. You get the guilty party to investigate themselves, and then feign shock and surprise when they arrive at the conclusion that everything’s tickety boo, and there’s nothing at all dodgy going on. Government reads the report, nods and smiles, and then everyone goes back to sleep. All’s well in the land of the “Brighter Future”.

  4. Great post. Labour should reach out to the recreational fisher folk. That episode on Waatea 5th estate on fishing was an eye opener and some great commentators that really care about the industry. Nothing is going to happen under National, recreational fisher folk need to stop voting National!

    • 1000% Save NZ,

      I saw an old couple out at the beach last year struggle with their tin boat after taking it out for a bit of fishing.

      Later that day we heard they got road blocked down the road by cops and MAF officers as if it was a setup to strike fear into all the campers on the beach.

      Later they took all their boat trailer and gear and charged them $1000 for three fish over the quota of six and they were meant to be for their grandson who left the beach early.

      Now I’m not passing harsh judgement on MAF/cops but have they treated any commercial fishes the same yet?

      Not to my knowledge!!!! Judge or be judged.

  5. You know the rules, Martyn: one set for ordinary folk and a completely different set for corporations and the well-connected. And a judiciary permanently leaning towards business.

    Some people still refer to NZ as being a democracy.

    Some think NZ has a low level of corruption.

  6. Nathan Guy did the classic nat ploy of attacking the messenger, basically “silly old Greenpeace, getting it wrong” while ignoring the FACT that despite his ministry having all the data, the video logs etc, they STILL did not prosecute.

  7. Nathan Guy did the classic nat ploy of attacking the messenger, basically “silly old Greenpeace, getting it wrong” while ignoring the FACT that despite his ministry having all the data, the video logs etc, they STILL did not prosecute. This comment might post twice.

  8. You declined to put my earlier post on this topic, so let me have another try. I am aware of how it is for commercial fishermen in NZ, fropm various ports around the country, the people who go out to catch the fish that ends up in your local fish and chip shop. They are not the super-wealthy you seem to be fixated upon. Check out around the ports of NZ, and see how many former fishermen are there — they are still working in an area they know well, portside, but now free from the hardscrabble they had to endure while at sea. Their net (!) income was, for many, below the national median. They had to care for their boats, pay their deckies, pay for the fuel — AND, if they caught the wrong sort of fish, species that sneak into their nets unbidden, they got stung with punitive ‘deemed quota’ penalties. If they declared all these ‘illegal’ fish, they would, in short order, be up against the wall. They have families, too. If they are to survive, the only option is not to declare.

    The very simple answer: allow them to land their catch — ‘illegal’ species along with their quota fish — and, while not getting paid for them, at least don’t penalise them.

    I ask all the posters on this thread who seem to have it in so viciously for these ordinary Kiwis — how do you tell ‘wrong’ fish to keep out of their nets? What would you do?

    • The quota system has failed everywhere. Orange roughy, southern hake, Alaskan crabs. The only species doing well were those that recruit fast enough to be robust in spite of the regulatory failure. The small fishermen do little or no harm and are nearly extinct. The big players have ruined the industry without developing it significantly.

      Every New Zealander used to have the right to fish – Palmer extinguished that – the crook.

  9. Here’s a thing about fish. Fish are very fishy.
    Here’s another thing about fish.
    They’re free. That’s right. You don’t need to breed them, feed them, nurture them in foul weather or stock pile summer grasses to support them there cod through the inclement weathers of the winters. No siree. Nope. Apart from going out onto the big scary sea in a boat with a hearty Ah Har ! You don’t need to do anything else. Blue Cod can be scraped off the bottom of the ocean and called $45 a kilo mate.
    Weirdly, there’s an analogy between sea fishing and land farming.
    The analogy is swindling. Both sea fishing and land farming are swindles.
    Once the fish is out of the water it becomes an exponential $- earner. No wonder then that the Big Men , all fine and fancy, don’t want to let go of that particular little earner. Just like they do with Land Farming.
    Hear “at any producer board in NZ. “ Keep it coming boys ! We’ll see you right about a guaranteed minimum price. No need to worry, just keep on farming and making that stuff you make. We’ll take it from here! ”

    But you guys can’t see that can you? Not yet anyway. You will one day.
    One day soon Farmers and Fisherpersons alike will realise. They’re being fucked on a scale ( Ooh , a pun ) almost unimaginable.

  10. At the end of the day it is the customers who will clean up NZ’s fishing industry – they’ll vote their wallets, and the usual suspects will be scrambling like Fonterra to make real the systems they created to cheat their public responsibilities.

    Leadership would consist of a pro-active government that insisted on high standards before the boycotts begin. We won’t see leadership from the Gnats of course – I’ve seen cleaner cesspits.

  11. Here’s a thing about fish. Fish are very fishy.
    Here’s another thing about fish.
    They’re free. That’s right. You don’t need to breed them, feed them, nurture them in foul weather or stock pile summer grasses to support them there cod through the inclement weathers of the winters. No siree. Nope. Apart from going out onto the big scary sea in a boat with a hearty Ah Har ! You don’t need to do anything else. Blue Cod can be scraped off the bottom of the ocean and called $45 a kilo mate.
    Weirdly, there’s an analogy between sea fishing and land farming.
    The analogy is swindling. Both sea fishing and land farming are swindle prone.
    Once the fish is out of the water it becomes an exponential $- earner for Big Fine Fat Gentlepersons who never go to see and never get cold and muddy. No wonder then that the Big Men , all fine and fancy, don’t want to let go of that particular little earner. Just like they do with Land Farming.
    Hear “at any producer board in NZ. “ Keep it coming boys ! We’ll see you right about a guaranteed minimum price. No need to worry, just keep on farming and making that stuff you make. We’ll take it from here! ”
    I’m living square in the middle of farming country at the moment and after talking to a few cockies? They have no idea what I’m talking about. There in lies the rub.
    Their own producer boards and so called ‘ collectives’ treat farmers and no doubt fisherpersons like mushrooms. I Bet you’ve heard this one. “ Keep ‘em in the dark and feed them bullshit. “

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