Press release - April 4, 2007
The New Zealand Governments announcement today to close 32 per cent of our EEZ to bottom trawling does little to stop the destruction of vulnerable deep-sea life threatened by the practice, this is clearly illustrated by a map released by Greenpeace in August 2006 shows. (1)
Map of areas proposed by the NZ fishing industry to be closed to bottom trawling compared to where bottom trawling actually occurs.
Greenpeace took a Ministry of Fisheries 'trawling map' which
shows where the fishing industry has been bottom trawling (2), and
overlaid it over the fishing industry's map of its closures (3).
Although there are new areas added to the proposal it is nowhere
near the science based protection that is needed.
The map shows that most areas proposed for closure are either
too deep or too rough to bottom trawl, or are otherwise of no
interest to the fishing industry because they don't contain enough
bottom-trawled target fish, such as orange roughy, to be economical
as fishing areas.
"Greenpeace welcomes science-based industry initiatives to close
areas to bottom trawling, but the Governments initiative does
nothing to protect areas that are currently being destroyed," said
Mike Hagler, Greenpeace oceans campaigner. "Most of the areas
proposed for closure are of no interest to the fishing industry,
there aren't enough fish."
Greenpeace also criticised the lack of a real consultation
process from the Government in drafting this proposal and said
"it's been back room deals between the Minister and the fishing
industry and environmental groups have had little consultation".
Over 1600 people who sent submissions to the Government will be
disappointed today.
Other contacts: Mike Hagler, Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner, 021 321 379
Suzette Jackson, Greenpeace New Zealand communications, 021 614 899
Notes: 1. A high resolution version of the map overlay can be downloaded from:
http://www.greenpeace.gen.nz/map/">http://www.greenpeace.gen.nz/map/">http://www.greenpeace.gen.nz/map/
2. "Trawling on or near the sea bed during the 1990s," Ministry of Fisheries, http://www.fish.govt.nz">http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Environmental">http://www.fish.govt.nz
3. www.seafood.co.nz/">http://www.seafood.co.nz/newscentre/press/2006pressreleases/closures.asp">www.seafood.co.nz/
Exp. contact date: 2007-05-05 00:00:00