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Speaker 1: But first of our fishing industry is in for a shakeup,

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Speaker 1: with Fisheries Minister Shane Jones proposing a reform of the

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Speaker 1: Fisheries Act Now. The changes would see a loosening of

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Speaker 1: catch regulations and more frequent updates to catch limits. It

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Speaker 1: would also restrict people who can access the camera footage

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Speaker 1: from the fishing vessels, confining the surveillance to MPI and

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Speaker 1: the courts. So Seafood New Zealand says the reform is

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Speaker 1: a win and CEO Lisa Footcheck is joining me now.

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Speaker 2: Hello Lisa Cuder Andrew and thank you so much for

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Speaker 2: inviting me on.

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Speaker 1: It's a pleasure. Why is this a win?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, this is a when largely for sustainability in

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Speaker 2: the broadest sense of the word, so sustainability for our

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Speaker 2: oceans that is woven throughout this consultation document, but also

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Speaker 2: importantly sustainability for our fishing businesses. How well, if you

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Speaker 2: look at the way that it's been framed up at

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Speaker 2: the outset, the MPI talks about focus on responsiveness, on certainty,

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Speaker 2: and on efficiency, and all of those things are really

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Speaker 2: really critical when you consider just how complicated the legislative

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Speaker 2: and regulatory environment is for our fitting industry.

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Speaker 1: Some critics would say they'd see the words loosening of

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Speaker 1: catch regulations and go, can we actually afford that for

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Speaker 1: our fish stocks?

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Speaker 2: Look, the focus on sustainability remains nothing about that. It's

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Speaker 2: going to change. So our Fishing Act it provides for

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Speaker 2: utilization of the resource, but ensuring sustainability, and that doesn't change.

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Speaker 2: As I say, so no one has to be concerned

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Speaker 2: about that. And reading through that document you'll see just

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Speaker 2: how big the focus is on sustainability. But what I

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Speaker 2: would say is that the changes in the setting of

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Speaker 2: PACs are total allowable catches is keeping pace with the technology,

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Speaker 2: so we have more information that we can input into

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Speaker 2: those decisions, and therefore we can make them more quickly

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Speaker 2: and in a more agile way.

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Speaker 1: The proposals also say that boats can release unwanted fish

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Speaker 1: back into the sea rather than bring it to shore,

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Speaker 1: but only if they've got a camera on board or

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Speaker 1: an observer. Is this better because it doesn't it sounds counterintuitive.

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Speaker 2: No, No, that is definitely better better for us, better

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Speaker 2: for the fish, and better for the environment. So the

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Speaker 2: situation there, of course is that at the moment, if

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Speaker 2: unwanted fish and there's only a small amount there. But

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Speaker 2: if there's unwanted fish that come on board at the moment,

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Speaker 2: the situation is that has to be taken back to

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Speaker 2: land where it is disposed of in the landfill. But

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Speaker 2: as you say, for those where where there's cameras on

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Speaker 2: board or there are observers, it's going to be possible

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Speaker 2: as the result of being able to verify that those

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Speaker 2: fish can be put back into the sea so that

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Speaker 2: they can be part of the ocean food web. But

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Speaker 2: I have to emphasize that they're not being jumped. These

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Speaker 2: fish are counting against the annual catch entitlement of the fishes,

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Speaker 2: so they have to pay for them. Of course, there's

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Speaker 2: no incentive to do anything other than minimize anything other

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Speaker 2: target catch.

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Speaker 1: And that's why you have to have a camera on

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Speaker 1: board or an observer so we can actually count the

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Speaker 1: unwanted catch and make it count towards the fish's annual

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Speaker 1: consent entitlement. The whole camera thing, that's right, the whole

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Speaker 1: camera thing. At the moment, anyone can access camera footage

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Speaker 1: from fishing boats via THEIA Official Information Act. That's stopped.

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Speaker 1: Why was that a problem?

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Speaker 2: Look, that is a really, really big problem for privacy.

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Speaker 2: So just bear in mind that the boats are the

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Speaker 2: workplace of our fishes and our industry, but in many

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Speaker 2: cases they are also home for extended periods of time.

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Speaker 2: So there's a privacy issue here. But not only that.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately we see some pretty bad behavior and attitudes towards

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Speaker 2: our fishes who are bullied and verbally and sometimes physically abused.

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Speaker 2: Now we don't see that there is any need for

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Speaker 2: camera footage to be available to public because our regulator

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Speaker 2: is the one that will check the camera footage and

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Speaker 2: if there has been a transgression then that will be

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Speaker 2: dealt with through the appropriate channels. Would you would be

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Speaker 2: public to have access?

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Speaker 1: Would you have wanted the cameras to be ditched completely?

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Speaker 2: Got cameras are here and what we would like to

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Speaker 2: see is that the information and the data that we

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Speaker 2: can derive from those cameras is used in a clever,

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Speaker 2: smart way to make our businesses more efficient and more sustainable.

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Speaker 1: Lisa futchick I, thank you so much. Lisa is the

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Speaker 1: Seafood New Zealand CEO.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio