Officials to consider closure of seamounts as part of bottom trawling review

Thursday, 27 January 2022

Māui dolphin and the New Zealand sea lion are on a countdown to extinction – so why do politicians drag their feet?

Fishing vessels will continue to plough over unprotected seamounts in the South Pacific as an inter-governmental summit wraps up this week with no decision on bottom trawling.

But officials have confirmed they will now consider a ban on fishing over seamounts in New Zealand waters as part of work ordered by Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker.

The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), which regulates high seas fishing, was due to launch a review of bottom-trawling rules this year.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced the conference online. And so delegates, from the 15 member states, agreed to push the evaluation out for another year in order to have face-to-face talks.

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Black coral is usually only found in the depths of the ocean.

Meanwhile, New Zealand fishing companies are free to renew their permits to continue trawling over the seamounts.

The fishing practice sees weighted nets dragged along the sea floor, hauling some of our most popular fish: orange roughy, hoki and oreo. About 90 per cent of the catch, for both inshore and deep sea fisheries, comes from bottom trawling.

Conservation groups argue trawling destroys delicate ecosystems that thrive on seamounts. The ocean floor landforms create an upwelling of nutrients which attract marine species to feed, and for centuries have been known as good fishing sites.

The underwater mountains are home to delicate, slow-growing coral, and sea sponges, which are at risk of being destroyed by the heavy fishing gear.

New Zealand has the only fleet still bottom trawling on seamounts in the region’s international waters.

Parliament’s environment select committee is currently considering a petition to ban bottom-trawling on New Zealand’s seamounts.

Last year, Parker, the Ministry for Primary Industries and Department of Conservation to begin work on managing the effects of trawling early this year.

The agencies will establish a forum, and the terms of reference are just been finalised, John Young, MPI’s acting director of international policy said. “It is hoped work can begin very soon.”

He confirmed the forum will discuss a ban on trawling seamounts.

“The forum’s discussions will be supported by use of a spatial decision support tool that incorporates the best available information on the distribution of benthic species, fishing activities, and seamounts and seamount-like features,” he said.

“We expect the closure of additional seamounts and/or seamount-like features to be considered as part of the forum deliberations.”

An orange roughy and bubblegum coral feature in a new mural painted on Auckland’s Ponsonby Rd by street artist Cinzah. It's the first of a “Defend the Deep” series, a call to protect the ocean from bottom trawling and seabed mining.

But the $4.18 billion fishing industry argues the practice is well-managed. Vessels furrow repeatedly over the same narrow tracks – they wouldn’t plunder an entire seamount. The industry, as well as environmental NGOs, are likely to be represented on the forum.

Since 2006, bottom trawling has been banned in a third of New Zealand's waters (although a large percentage of these areas were never viable for the method in the first place). Now only 3.5 per cent, or 122,000sq km, of the exclusive economic zone (or EEZ) is trawled.

A graphic from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition illustrating what bottom trawling is.

The industry and conservation groups are also at odds about the number of seamounts within the EEZ.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an umbrella group of NGOs, says the SPRFMO pause shouldn’t delay Government action.

Campaigner Karli Thomas says New Zealand representatives at SPRFMO have continually argued against stricter regulation to protect seamounts.

“All six New Zealand vessels authorised by the New Zealand government to trawl on seamounts in the South Pacific belong to companies with recent convictions for illegal trawling in closed areas,” she said.

“Their fishing permits expire in April, and there is no reason to delay action until 2023. Fisheries Minister David Parker could end the destruction and protect these precious deep-sea ecosystems with the stroke of a pen, by simply refusing to re-issue high seas permits to a handful of trawlers owned by companies that have shown they can't be trusted.”

Ellie Hooper, of Greenpeace NZ which is a member of DSCC, says: “There seems to be endless kicking the can down the road on this.

“The Minister has the power, under current legislation, to put an end to trawling on seamounts, which would have a big impact on biodiversity.”

Hooper says a Horizon poll commissioned by Greenpeace shows 80 per cent of those surveyed supported a ban on bottom trawling in the most vulnerable parts of the ocean.

The SPRFMO meeting finishes on Friday. Young said New Zealand supports the body’s review taking place over the course of the year.

That will enable “further analysis and consultation” and will be informed by a review of bottom fishing by the United Nations General Assembly, anticipated for later this year, he said.

Young confirmed the 12-month high seas permits will expire on April 30. “Companies need to meet a set of specific criteria to be granted High Seas fishing permits and there are conditions on their use,” he said.

“We acknowledge that bottom trawling has impacts on the seafloor – notably seamounts and seamount-like features and their associated communities.

“We also acknowledge the contribution that bottom trawling makes to New Zealand commercial fisheries and local economies.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that only 3.5 per cent, or 122,000sq km, of the exclusive economic zone is untouched. In fact, only 3.5 per cent, or 122,000sq km, of the exclusive economic zone (or EEZ) is trawled. (Updated: April 31, 2022, 11.58am).