Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

Hon SHANE JONES: I move, That the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Primary Production Committee to consider the bill.

We are world leaders in the sustainable management of fisheries. Fisheries resources in the Pacific and Southern Oceans are valuable to our nation and they are the lifeblood of our industry.

Very briefly, let me outline what is available in the regulatory impact statement, the legislative statement, so let no one think that there are omissions in relation to why we’re doing this bill. Our position in terms of the $2 billion seafood export industry needs to be consistently affirmed.

Secondly, we protect New Zealand’s continuing access to the lucrative fisheries in the Pacific and the Southern Oceans, and, who knows, as a consequence of an overdue decision today, even the Kermadec zone.

The third issue is that New Zealand can continue to access valuable export markets like the US, EU, and Japan, which all have measures to block imports from illegal, unreported, and unregulated—or what they call IUU fishing—a blight that we have sought to contain and address throughout the Pacific for a long period of time.

Illegal fishing undermines New Zealand’s contributions to sustainable fisheries management, and it undermines the interests of our legitimate fishing operators. But, more importantly, illegal fishing threatens our interests in the Southern and Pacific Oceans. The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee presented to this House last year such a report on IUU fishing. Many are the delegations that have been to various fora, both at the UN, other international entities, but also at the World Trade Organization to address the subsidisation or the laxity associated with other Governments and what they are or are not doing in respect of IUU. This bill reflects the Government’s commitment to a strong domestic framework against illegal fishing.

The bill also reflects New Zealand First’s policy for primary industry and the environment. All of the parties that comprise our side of the House with the powers of Government are pro-industry. We want to accentuate every positive dimension about the primary sector that was undermined, weakened, and corroded as a consequence of foolish regulation, ill-conceived plans, and too much “Kumbaya”.

The regime, in terms of international fisheries, goes back, in terms of our Fisheries Act, over 25 years. Since then, international awareness, conception, and obligations in terms of IUU fishing have evolved. This is an attempt, with this bill, to update our responses, our obligations.

Two overarching aims should be read into the record of our parliamentary proceedings: one, to enable New Zealand to better meet its international obligations of a compliance nature and a management nature; number two, to improve the efficiency and clarity of the provisions and decision-making processes related to international fisheries.

How will that happen? By amending provisions in the following areas: permitting of New Zealand vessels fishing outside our waters, and effectiveness and efficiency in terms of actions against violations. Permitting regime: all regimes are capable of being improved. Some regimes disappear and others come to the fore, and I speak on behalf of the current group of politicians who hold the privilege of constitutional ministerial positions and the obligations of governing for New Zealanders, and we want to ensure that the commercial interests of New Zealand, both internationally and domestically, are not either undermined or neglected or marginalised by people who have an excessive level of interest in joining international green NGO echo chambers. We are not going to allow fisheries in New Zealand to be forced into that trap, but we are going to ensure that where we do have fisheries interests, we remain positive global citizens.

Under this bill, vessels will require a permit to fish anywhere outside our waters. This will improve our ability to ensure that our vessels comply with both international obligations and the obligations of other States. We’re going to ensure that conditions in terms of what are required to be upheld when we permit a vessel are consistently observed.

Just winding up, we will take effective action against violations. Our fishing industry has a high level of compliance and our officers are resolute at enforcing rules. We need to update, however, enforcement tools to demonstrate that we can continue to take effective action. If a New Zealand - flagged vessel was to be found to have undermined a measure and New Zealand failed to take effective action, that could not only damage our reputation but it could be used in a way negative to our prospects as primary producers.

Our seafood exports will be scrutinised by import markets, without a doubt, but let no one buy into the ongoing false narrative for the small number of parliamentarians, and their fellow travellers, who are trying to use international trade obligations to intimidate New Zealand politicians who have been mandated to form the Government to come up with sensible climate change policies that make sense to ordinary Kiwis, who want to see an economic dividend and a surplus continuously generated so we can afford, through fisheries industry and other industries, the accoutrements that define us as a First World nation. We need practical, pragmatic, sustainable climate change outcomes, of which fisheries is a key part.

So, closer to home, we have the western and central Pacific: over 6.5 percent of catch of all tuna species were found to be involved in IUU—not a good outcome. Updating the Fisheries Act strengthens our hand at holding offenders to account, and, in addition, this will strengthen our ability to inspect and investigate foreign and Stateless vessels, and allow us to deter and penalise the support or engagement of IUU fisheries.

Who have we consulted? Extensive consultation has informed this bill. The Ministry for Primary Industries led multiple and regular engagement sessions. All stakeholders agreed that the regime should be updated.

On the Treaty of Waitangi, as the fisheries Minister, I could have consulted myself, because we’ve had far too much expansiveness and rubbery thinking fitting of a comic figure in relation to the application of the Treaty. But I can assure you, where the Treaty features in this bill—mercifully modestly—we are not going to allow that creeping sensation that has blighted legislation pertaining to primary produce legislation through the Treaty to continue. You have the word of an experienced politician in that regard.

So, in conclusion, I have set out, at the beginning of my speech, the reasons why we’re doing it, the importance of a robust regime, and, for those reasons, I look forward to the select committee, when it finally is received, doing a robust job. Therefore, I am very proud to introduce this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Very happy to hear the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries say that New Zealand should be a positive global citizen, and I am, in fact, delighted to be speaking on this bill—which was, of course, introduced by someone called the Hon Rachel Brooking, as you’ll see on the bill here. It’s nice—I think this is the first time that I’ve ever spoken when my name has been on the bill.

Now, it was a very good process that went into the creation of this bill that we have in front of us. That is because it involved the public servants who are involved in the international agreements and regional fishing bodies, such as SPRFMO. SPRFMO stands for the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, and you talk about the Convention Area. These officials have been looking at our legislation, and there was a review of the Fisheries Act undertaken in 2020. There was then—and new members of the House might be particularly interested in this—a regulatory impact statement, and there were no redactions to that regulatory impact statement. Then there was a departmental disclosure statement. That records consultation, and you can see that at page 7—an extensive consultation it was.

We’ve just heard from the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries that this is going to go to select committee, and it will go through the normal—because I didn’t hear anything else—Standing Orders process of six months at that select committee. So it can hear the submissions from the people who are interested in IUU—that being illegal, unreported, and unregulated—fishing, and the ins and outs of what is quite a technical bill. Now, it is amending the Fisheries Act. The Fisheries Act is an important piece of legislation for New Zealand that includes regulations in it for our quota management system, for permits and registration of fishing and of vessels.

This bill also relates to the high seas. So the high seas are where there is no exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and that is where you have international fishing. But there’s a change here that “high seas” is replaced with “international fishing”, so it’s a bit broader and can include States where New Zealanders can fish. As mentioned, there are international agreements which New Zealand has signed up to where New Zealand can regulate other countries’ vessels when they’re outside of our EEZ. If a ship has no nationality, then it’s a Stateless vessel and is unregulated.

So I just really want to commend this bill to the House. It’s gone through a very good process. It’s about a very serious topic, which is illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and I hope that the members of the select committee enjoy getting into the detail of it and talking to the officials who have done so much work on it. I commend them for their work. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The current regime in terms of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is not fit for purpose, and it risks falling out of line with our international obligations. Illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing is a significant threat to the sustainability of fish stocks and the overall health of our ocean ecosystem. This bill is limited, however, to fisheries beyond our exclusive economic zone. Whilst we commend it, we would like to see broader reform which assesses all of the Fisheries Act against New Zealand’s international obligations. This bill should be thus expanded—including our domestic fisheries and fixing them where they fall short.

I believe that is a forlorn hope with this Government, because we have a Minister of fisheries, who is donkey deep in dead fish, and we would have thought previously that he was an advocate for fisheries, but what we find emerging in his seeming co-advocacy for seabed mining is that he doesn’t really care how the fish die as long as as many fish die as possible—whether it’s through overfishing or through seabed mining.

DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think we could talk about that as a consequence but not as an intention. Thank you.

STEVE ABEL: Honestly, Madam Chair, I appreciate that. I think when the Hon Shane Jones comes into the Chamber the fish swim for their lives. And I appreciate—

DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member can carry on with his speech. Thank you. We’ve just got to be careful that we don’t make personal attacks in the House, OK?

STEVE ABEL: I appreciate it, Madam Speaker. Thank you for that. In terms of this Government’s position on fisheries, today of all days, when we have a bill here that is doing something useful but manages to ignore what is happening within our exclusive economic zone and what is within our ambit, the Kermadec sanctuary bill falls from the Order Paper. On this very same day, the Kermadec sanctuary bill that was brought forward by a National Government as a flagship piece of legislation to protect our environment is taken from the Order Paper just the day after the Minister for Regional Development mentioned that there are manganese nodules in the Kermadec Islands. And Trans-Tasman Resources, this very day, also withdrew from the Environmental Protection Agency, because I am certain that they have been given the nod that they’ll be on the fast-track legislation.

So, whilst we can celebrate the protection of international oceans from illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, we cannot celebrate what is happening here. We are the last country in the South Pacific to still undertake destructive bottom trawling. And, in that international realm of responsibility at the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, New Zealand had previously committed to bringing a proposal for protection of the most vulnerable ocean ecosystems, and we reneged on that with the change of Government to the present Government. In fact, Australia had to make that submission, and then we voted against it.

So this Government has a long way to go before it is equal and authentic in terms of its expression of support for protection of our fisheries and our ocean ecosystems. This particular effort in protecting global oceans from illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is a good thing, and it is carried over from previous efforts, and I do commend it to the House. But, in all authenticity, the oceans are vital for the survival of all of us. They are a commons. The bounty of the oceans should be protected and maintained in a way that gives us the abilities to sustain human populations for generations to come. They should not simply be illegally accessed—or legally accessed—in a way that is highly destructive. I would urge this Government and this Minister to do all in their power to actually act in the common interest and broaden this bill to include everything within our ambit, including the way that fishing and oceans management is done within our exclusive economic zone in the waters of Aotearoa New Zealand. Kia ora.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I rise to take a brief call on behalf of the ACT Party to speak to the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. Just a couple of points to clarify, given this opportunity, to enlighten the members of this House as to the overall cost in terms of tonnage and weight of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing—and I just want to mention the former member for bringing it to the House, the former Minister for fisheries—but throw some figures at the House to actually try to understand the enormity of the problem. Estimates from the World Economic Forum suggest that illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing in international waters equates to anywhere between the vicinity of $26 billion to $50 billion. The World Wildlife Fund estimates $36.4 billion. I know there’s some vagaries between those two numbers, but none the less it is enormous, with the UN sustainable goals suggesting it equates to about 8 million to 14 million tonnes. We all accept that it has a profound effect, especially on poorer economies, poorer countries. For one recent example that I would like to share for the sake of the House, it was noted in the Pacific alone that illegal tuna fishing between the years of 2017-2019 equated to approximately 192,000 tonnes, an estimated value of some $335 million.

This bill, which was put in front of the House last August, seeks to address this very issue. The bill will strengthen the rules around international fishing practices, especially around unreported, unregulated fishing and vessels whilst in international waters. It will strengthen New Zealand’s international reputation, being an export-focused economy, and I think we would all agree that is a very salient part of this conversation when it comes to adhering to international rules-based order; and continue—and I think this is the point: we can continue to offer New Zealand on a world stage and that we maintain our high-value seafood markets not only currently but going into our future. These markets are paralleled by the United States, the EU, and Japan, who have already implemented this type of regime.

The bill will allow for “monitoring and regulation of New Zealand-flagged vessels [whilst] operating outside New Zealand waters”, and I would imagine everyone here would appreciate the size of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in New Zealand, let alone in what you would say open water fleet by practice. The powers include fisheries inspectors to board vessels if necessary to ascertain serious violations and whether they have occurred, and direct to port; also potentially be able to search and detain vessels. I think it is incumbent upon all trading nations that adhere with this kind of legislation that they would do the same thing. It brings us in line with them. Offences would also include obstacles to high-sea fisheries inspectors going about their wares, going about their business, to ascertain whether vessels are adhering to the international rules or not. Fines could include, for those said vessels with connections to IUU, being fined up to $250,000 and potential seizure of the vessel.

New Zealand, for context, in terms of our exclusive economic zone, is over 4 million square kilometres, spanning between Niue, the Cook Islands, and Tokelau. It is a significant challenge, but it warrants—and I think we would all agree with this—our ongoing commitment. According to 2020 estimates, 45 percent of the high seas is outside any—and I stress this point—jurisdictional boundary, and this is where most of the illegal fishing occurs.

Very quickly, New Zealand—given that I’m running out of time—must continue to play our part on the international stage, protect New Zealand’s EEZ but also international waters outside our EEZ, and play our part to nullify the illegal fishing practices that are known to be going on in international waters. ACT supports this bill.

It’s a great privilege to stand and speak on the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, first reading. The purpose and objective of this bill is to enable New Zealand to better meet its international fisheries management and compliance obligations in relation to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including those flowing from the international arrangements that New Zealand is party to, and to improve the efficiency and clarity of the statutory provisions and associated decision-making processes related to international fisheries for Government and stakeholders.

Building this framework is vital to protecting not only an incredibly important industry to our New Zealand economy but to matching other nations in their efforts to block imports from those seeking to undermine the market and undercut our operators. This is all part of making sure we can sustain access to important fisheries in the Pacific and Southern Oceans. This bill updates the permitting regime to make it clearer, more reasonable, and more efficient. It also raises the benchmark for effective sanctions for violations of international fishing rules.

There will be a new offence which will prohibit operating or engaging with any vessel that has been listed internationally as having engaged in illegal fishing. This step is global best-practice approach. Actions like this showcase our commitment to being world leaders in fighting illegal fishing, as we are in so many different areas.

Illegal fishing can take place in several ways that make it difficult to monitor and police. In some instances, it is as simple as fishing without a proper permit or licence, but there are also cases of misreported catch numbers, illegal fishing gear, or having false identification adorning a vessel. The changes in this bill tie in with the comments from the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee inquiry around the severity that illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing poses to our interests, and takes action on their recommendation to have strong illegal fishing measures throughout the bill.

Last year, Pew Research stated that illegal fishing is one of the biggest threats to global ocean sustainability, with researchers estimating that one in five fish caught globally are caught illegally. One in five is no small drop in the ocean; it’s a whale of a problem, especially to our $2 billion a year seafood export industry.

Kiwi sustainability is a priority for our primary industries regardless of the sector. Consider the requirements we put in place in our red meat sector to ensure its quality and export integrity, and the value it brings to our country’s exports in the global market. When it comes to the high seas, the lack of strength that authorities have to properly combat illegal fishing and poor fishing practice is detrimental to both the industry and our environment. So it’s important to find the right balance between encouraging economic growth across the industry, but also making sure we have a strong, efficient framework for those who blatantly skirt the rules or try to take advantage of a flawed system and disadvantage these industries’ major contribution.

I have read through the wonderful departmental disclosure statement, but in my five-minute contribution, there’s no way I could get through it, so I say to the House, “Thank cod we are doing it.” I commend this bill to the House.

Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Otirā tēnā tatau, tēnā tatau e te Whare. E tū ake ana ahau ki te whakapuaki i ngā whakaaro o te Pāti Māori. E hāngai ana ki tēnei o ngā pire e kīia nei ko te Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. Tū ake ana, hei tīmatanga mōku, ko te hoki ki te takenga mai o tēnei mea te mana moana. Te mana moana o ngā iwi kāinga puta noa i te motu e ea nei te whakaaro nō te tangata whenua te mana o te whenua, otirā ka tae atu ki te mana o ō rātou moana anō hoki. Nōreira hei konei ka whakatārihia ko ēnei kōrero.

[Thank you, Madam Speaker. Indeed, greetings to the House. I stand to speak on behalf of Te Pāti Māori and our thoughts on this bill, the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I stand and begin by acknowledging the origin of the mana of the moana. The mana of the moana of the nations that supports the notion that the mana of the land belongs to the people of the land, and also the mana of the moana. Hence my speech, in which I will raise these thoughts.]

Whilst we acknowledge the commercial imperative, we also acknowledge and would like to remind the House of the mana moana, mana tangata, and tangata whenua imperative. When it comes to rights and fishing, Māori are the principal rights holders; the principal rights holders in the customary rights—the rights that existed before the emergence of any commercial rights, the rights that existed before the emergence of any recreational rights—and they must be respected. They must be respected and endure. And, for sure, the precedent was set in 1992 at the conclusion of the first Treaty of Waitangi settlement process and the conclusion of the fisheries settlement.

Mai i taua wā tae noa mai ki tēnei wā, ko te wāhi ki te Māori i roto i te hāo ika me te whakahaere i ngā rawa o Tangaroa kua ū, me ū, me mau me Rangatira.

[From that time to this present time, the Māori’s involvement in fishery and as custodians to the assets provided by Tangaroa shall be resolute, has to be resolute, firm, and prestigious.]

So whilst Te Pāti Māori stands in support of the broad intention of the bill to enable Aotearoa to better meet its international fisheries management and compliance obligations in relation to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and although this bill is largely focused on activities that occur out on the high sea, I am reminded of a whakataukī from te Iwi Māori: he whiunga ki tai, he pānga ki uta [trouble at sea is trouble inland], and inasmuch as that relates to things that happen out on the open ocean eventually have an impact on the inshore waters and, indeed, the people who reside in the coastal areas.

We acknowledge that the amendments will improve our capacity and ability to protect our fish stocks, and we understand that these fish stocks are important and that international fishing is a danger to our people. Also, to be cognisant of owning our own place in behaving and conducting ourselves well in fishing practice as well, we are not above or beyond the laws.

Te Pāti Māori also sees that there is some alignment with our own policies, our mana motuhake policy, te ahunga mai i te whenua, te ahunga mai o te mana Motuhake i te moana [the origin of land, the origin of mana over the moana].

And consider that all changes—all and any changes—to fisheries legislation should have the active consent of tangata whenua, given our customary, proprietary, governance, and Tiriti-based rights. Mana ōrite in negotiation and mana whakahaere must be maintained, and the protection of our whakapapa connections with the fisheries should be respected and upheld in fisheries legislation.

We acknowledge that Te Ohu Kaimoana was extensively involved in the drafting of the bill, and we urge this Government to continue that open and clear dialogue with Te Ohu Kaimoana moving forward and, more importantly, so that the iwi, hapū, marae, and whānau who reside in those coastal locations—those coastal hapū, those coastal marae—are afforded the same opportunity to participate, Rangatira ki te Rangatira [leader to leader].

We also support this proposal that will enable greater powers to the fisheries officers and, indeed, our enforcement agencies in the protection of our fish stocks, be they international or domestic threats. Nō reira kia kaha rā ki a tātou [And so, let us be steadfast]. And inasmuch as the concerns of Te Ohu Kaimoana have been addressed through the drafting process, we do proceed with some level of caution.

He whiunga ki tai, he pānga ki uta. Tēnā pea te kōrero matua mō aku kōrero, me te whakamatara ake I te Kāwanatanga kia ū ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te mahara ake…

[Trouble at sea is trouble inland. That may be the main theme of my speech, and to also educate the Government to comply with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and to remember…]

Recent actions by the Government would lead us to believe there is a pattern of behaviour of not bothering to be concerned with what the ramifications for the Treaty partner may contain, so we move forward with caution to the Government to actively and continually respect Māori rights, Māori Tiriti rights in fishing, be they on the high sea or in the inshore waters.

Nō reira hei whakakapi ake, kia ū te mana Māori te mana moana me Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tēnā tātou.

[And so, to conclude, hold fast to mana Māori, to mana moana, and also to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Thank you everyone].

I rise in support of the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. This bill is about getting New Zealand back on track and firmly establishing New Zealand as a world leader in combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. It’s about protecting our deepwater fisheries industry, which contributes $2.7 billion a year to the New Zealand economy, $1.6 billion to GDP, and employs almost 8,500 people. And it’s about being a good neighbour and a trusted and responsible global trading partner.

This bill updates our permitting regime and ensures New Zealand vessels can continue to access valuable international fisheries. It also ensures we meet our international obligations, which have evolved since our international fisheries management and compliance regime was established in 1999, especially in relation to the prevention of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This bill strengthens the powers of high-seas fishing inspectors to investigate offending by foreign-flagged and even Stateless vessels, and it makes it an offence to operate, engage with, or assist a vessel recorded as having engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing. This bill protects our access to lucrative fisheries in the Pacific and Southern Ocean by making sure we comply with our obligations.

As a country, we’re committed to being a world leader in the sustainable management of fisheries, and that includes in our neighbouring international waters. It’s worth noting that the Ministry for Primary Industries reported, in September 2023, that as part of the special annual mission called Operation Nasse, fisheries compliance officers from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, France, and the United States detected nearly 40 alleged breaches of high-seas rules during a major South Pacific patrol. Operation Nasse covered a vast area from the Tasman Sea eastwards to the south of the Cook Islands. It involved three weeks of sea and air surveillance, with the main aim being to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing throughout the South Pacific Ocean.

Illegal fishing practices seriously undermine sustainable fisheries management and are estimated to cost the Pacific region millions of dollars in lost revenue every year. They threaten food security and create an unfair playing field for legitimate commercial fishers. As part of Operation Nasse, an international team boarded and inspected more than 20 vessels at sea, along with monitoring the movements of 120 other vessels during their air surveillance work. Fiji participated for the first time last year. Together, they found 38 breaches from non-compliant seabird mitigation gear being deployed, to incorrect flags being displayed, failure to provide vessel monitoring data, maritime pollution, and poor handling of sharks and stingrays. Operation Nasse was also significant as it was the first time the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s new Poseidon P-8A aircraft had been deployed, and it was from Ōhākea in the mighty Rangitīkei. The crew were able to provide valuable information on the activities of fishing vessels during their patrols.

It is an uncomfortable truth: illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing destroys livelihoods, and it decimates the sustainability of our fishing resources. More broadly, it undermines regional security. It is critical we continue to protect marine resources from those who believe the rules don’t apply to them. Bringing Pacific Island nations to the forefront of these patrols to gain experience is something we want to continue. Pacific Island nations and their communities stand to lose economically because of illegal fishing on the high seas, and we’re behind them all the way. This bill is all about protecting our fishing industry and our international reputation. It’s about getting New Zealand back on track. It’s about being good neighbours to our friends across the Pacific, whose lives and heritage are intrinsically linked to the sea, just like us. We’re farmers, we’re traders, and we’re fishers. We need this bill to help us futureproof our industry.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I’m grateful for the opportunity to take a call on this bill, the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023. As the Labour spokesperson for communication and digital technology, I usually spell fishing with a “ph”, but this is a bill about the original fishing—on the sea, not the internet. So it’s fishing with an “f”.

Helen White: Finally, a good pun.

REUBEN DAVIDSON: More seriously—I’ve got a list of puns here; I could go all day. More seriously, the comedy is over. As global citizens, we need to take our responsibilities seriously when it comes to IUU, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. And why is that? Because not doing so is a threat to sustainability of regional and global fisheries. New Zealand has one of the largest economic exclusion zones in the world, and we fish in several international fisheries. We need to make sure international fisheries are well managed. If we don’t do that, we’ll fall short of our international obligations, and we’ll put at risk our reputation as a responsible fishing nation.

Now, we earnt this reputation by developing international and regional frameworks, standards, and rules to support sustainable use of fisheries, to support the protection of the marine environment, to support building bilateral and regional fisheries relationships, to support trade and access to overseas markets, and by working together to manage fisheries in other countries—especially with our Pacific Island neighbours—ultimately, by aiming to get the most economic, and other, benefits for New Zealand from international fisheries whilst still managing the effects of fishing on the environment, ensuring that it is sustainable, and meeting our international obligations.

The great thing about this bill is that it deepens that commitment. It strengthens and clarifies the permitting regime for New Zealand flag vessels fishing outside New Zealand’s waters, and it does that by amending the provisions related to the high-seas fishing permitting scope. It increases New Zealand’s capacity to control its vessels operating outside New Zealand waters and to clarify the decision-making process for that. And it gives some teeth to the issuing, suspending, and revoking of permits—teeth to the issuing, suspending, and revoking of permits. And that is very important, because those teeth, that strength, comes from the adjustment of administrative penalties. This bill lifts those penalties.

It adjusts the administrative penalty regime for breaches of international fishing permit conditions for greater effectiveness and proportionality. It does this by increasing the maximum amounts for administrative penalties and by broadening the scope of the activities to which they apply. This seeks to improve the administrative penalties regime to disincentivise offending and reserve prosecutions for serious fisheries violations. It provides for a broader range of offences to be covered to improve the proportionality of administrative penalties to the relevant offending. The chief executive will be able to impose those penalties to a broader range of offences that do not necessarily warrant a prosecution—mid-level as well as minor offending.

The combined amendments will better incentivise compliance with the rules of regional fisheries management organisations and better align with member States’ expectations in those organisations, and it preserves the right of offending to be dealt with by a court. It also requires administrative decisions to be published to ensure the transparency of the offending, and preserves the right of the person to require that offence to be dealt with by a court. Those three functions will ensure that the bill’s objectives can be achieved and that operators realise there are enforceable ramifications to poor conduct or illegal actions. This bill effectively strengthens our commitment to being a responsible fishing nation.

Now, a member referred earlier to it also being able to manage impacts on sharks and stingrays, and I’d suggest, potentially, some notes be included on that one in the Cabinet Manual as well. As global citizens, we need to take our responsibilities seriously when it comes to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This bill does that. I commend this bill to the House.

I speak in support of the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill as we need to protect our $2 billion seafood export industry in New Zealand.

In my home, Hawke’s Bay, we have a significant seafood industry, so I know how important it is to protect this valuable industry. Like the Minister earlier said, on this side of the House, we are pro-industry. The Government is committed to a strong domestic framework against illegal fishing, because illegal fishing threatens New Zealand’s interests in the Southern and Pacific oceans and disadvantages our $2 billion seafood industry.

This bill will help us meet international obligations, protect our access to valuable markets and fisheries, and maintain our international reputation. New Zealand is committed to being a world leader in the sustainable management of fisheries, including our neighbouring international waters. This reputation is beneficial and essential for our export industry. This bill protects New Zealand’s continuing access to lucrative fisheries in the Pacific and Southern Oceans by ensuring we comply with our obligations. Illegal fishing undercuts our operators, reduces their profitability, distorts market competition, and challenges the future availability of fishery resources.

This bill makes sure our fisheries continue to thrive, and that they remain able to provide food and economic opportunities for all New Zealanders. This bill will strengthen New Zealand’s capacity to combat illegal fishing outside our waters, and bolster our fishing interests. Updating our permitting regime ensures that New Zealand vessels can continue to access valuable international fisheries, and reduces the risk that they may not comply with all relevant obligations.

We must protect “New Zealand Inc.” when it comes to our exports. As part of my previous roles in the export industry, I’ve spent time in China promoting our exports on the global stage, and the New Zealand reputation is strong. I worked closely with New Zealand Trade & Enterprise to promote our premium produce on the global stage in Asia. I know how important our New Zealand story is for ensuring that we can add value to our products. Our seafood is sold for a premium in China because of our really strong reputation. You walk into the high-end supermarkets in China, in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and you see our seafood on display. If New Zealand fails to take effective action against violations, this could be damaging to our reputation as a sustainable primary producer, and it could be negatively impacted. This could increase scrutiny on exports, on valuable export markets like China. This bill will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our fishing industry, and preserve transparency.

Updating the Fisheries Act 1996 strengthens our ability to hold offenders to account. We need to ensure that our high-sea fisheries officers on the front lines have the right tools. New Zealand needs to be a world leader in combatting illegal fishing. Amending the Act to address these developments will strengthen New Zealand’s ability to access high-value seafood markets and its reputation as a responsible seafood export nation.

On this side of the House, we are driven to double the value of our exports in the next 10 years. The seafood export revenue is forecast to increase 8 percent this year. It has been on an uphill trajectory, and we need to protect that very, very valuable seafood export market. We need to support growth in our export industries. There is no place here in New Zealand for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activity. It is really important that we support this bill here today. So I commend it to the House.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s a pleasure to take a call on this excellent bill—probably only the second call that I’ve been able to take in my time in Parliament on something which addresses the law of the sea, which I know is particularly an area of interest to some of my legal colleagues.

This is an excellent bill. I want to commend the Minister that first brought this to the House, and the Minister who’s now progressing it. It’s fantastic to have a bill which looks to protect our seas, protect against illegal activity, and also has such an abundance of information as to the effectiveness of the bill: an amazing regulatory impact statement, 48 pages long, going through all of the aspects that the parliamentarian could want to know around this particular bill; also a departmental disclosure statement; a legislative statement—all of the things that we have got used to not seeing on the Table. So excellent to have those in the House to help us with our deliberations on this first reading.

I also wanted to—I won’t go over everything that the bill does, as that’s been widely canvassed by many members of this House so far, but just to emphasise the fact that it is good to see New Zealand passing legislation which is not directly because we have to because of our international obligations, but to help us better align with our international obligations, and also keep our fisheries regime, which was established in the 1990s, up to date with the latest regulations that need to be in place in order to keep our seas and our precious kaimoana and fish and biodiversity in the seas safe.

So I’d just like to end there, and just note that it is slightly ironic for people who come from Catholic families like myself that we’re spending the last minutes of this House talking about two fisheries bills just before Good Friday. I’d like to take the opportunity to wish everyone in the House a happy Easter.

It’s a pleasure to rise and be the last speaker of this reading to round out the debate today in support of the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. I would just like to acknowledge Matua Shane for bringing this bill to the House and continuing this bill from the previous Government. I also would like to acknowledge Rachel Brooking, the original author of this bill. It’s actually rare that I get to speak on bills that have unanimous agreement in the House, and so it is with pride that I get up and acknowledge that we all have, I think, a very rare moment of unanimity behind protecting our fishery sector by upholding and strengthening the seafood sector and also upholding New Zealand’s reputation as a country that values sustainable fisheries and that has world-leading regulations and laws as a result.

Look, this law—we’ve traversed the various aspects of it. It is updating legislation that has come into force 25 years ago and does a lot to crack down on what is a very big problem globally, actually. And I did value the contribution from Mark Cameron, and others, that tried to quantify the problem, because it is quite large. And, for those of you at home that are asking yourselves, “Actually, is this a big issue for New Zealand and for the world?” Well, yes, it is. Anywhere between 18 and 14 million tonnes annually are alleged to be from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. That has a street value of anywhere from US$9 billion to US$16 billion. But what about closer to home? Well, closer to home, we’ve heard that, actually, in our own backyard in the Pacific, illegal and unregulated and unreported fishing is in the estimated range of around $300 million per annum—that’s US dollars.

So it is a significant problem, and this bill tries to actually resolve that problem, and it tries to by a number of ways: by increasing the penalties for those who are engaged in IUU activities in our international waters but also by broadening the scope for such illegal activities as well. There is a whole range of other things that it does in terms of controlling the permits for New Zealand vessels, but also for other vessels from overseas, and more tightly controlling those permits for regulated markets and fishing in our international waters.

But I’ve also heard some great contributions from my own side here around, I think, the value of our fisheries sector. And I think the honourable member from Tukituki, Catherine Wedd, was very proud in articulating that it was a $2 billion contribution to our sector and our exports annually.

And having lived overseas—I’ve lived in Europe and Asia and in America—you can see New Zealand fish in supermarkets, and, yes, it is at a premium, but it’s also at a premium in restaurants overseas. And having dined in some restaurants in a lot of countries, it made me very proud to eat New Zealand fish and dine on New Zealand fish. It is actually at a premium, and you’ll be surprised. You know, sometimes I have to pay 40-odd euros for a nice, fresh New Zealand fish in the streets of Paris.

So, it’s a hugely important sector for this country, a hugely important sector for workers. There’s about 16,000 workers in our fisheries sector, so we want to protect that. We want to uphold New Zealand’s reputation, and it is my privilege and pleasure to commend this bill to the House and also to wish you all a very safe and happy Easter break.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

The question is, That the Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill be considered by the Primary Production Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Primary Production Committee.