The NZ Fishing Industry

"New Zealand lies in the southern Pacific Ocean, 2000 kilometres east of Australia, and directly controls the world's 4th largest coastal fishing zone. This Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) produces about 1% of the world's catch. It covers 2.2 million square kilometres of ocean ranging over 30 degrees of latitude - from the subtropical Kermadec Islands to subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands.

New Zealand is currently the world's leader in fisheries management and supports an industry based on sustainable harvest and environmental principles.

The industry currently pays for all fisheries management, enforcement and operational research. It also invests over 2% of gross returns into research and development - much of this being in environmental areas.

Sustainable management of New Zealand's 'wild-catch' fisheries is achieved by a Quota Management System that gives fishers transferable harvesting rights.

Two thirds of New Zealand's current seafood exports were untapped resources just twenty years ago. Mid and deep-water fisheries lay largely unknown and undeveloped, while the huge aquaculture industry was simply the dream of a few marine farm pioneers. Now, the seafood industry is poised for further growth and anticipates total export returns of $2 billion by 2010. In getting there, it aims to be "the preferred supplier of high quality seafood products to discerning world markets".

Recent improvements in seafood storage and handling techniques have brought great leaps in export returns, as have developments in value-added products.

For information on fisheries management in New Zealand visit Management and Sustainability; to find out about the value seafood exports bring to the New Zealand economy go to Economics and Trade."

Source: NZ Seafood Industry Council