12 SEAFOOD NEW ZEALAND February 2012

BookReview

This book is co-authored by Gareth Morgan and Geoff

Simmons. Their intention is clearly worthwhile but they deliver

to their readers a pop history of fishing – global and local -

underpinned and overlaid by some obvious personal preferences

and biases. Which is fine; it is after all their book.

The initial responses to the release of the Morgan/Simmons

book have been interesting to observe – selective acceptance and

both cautious and intemperate criticism from recreational fishing

commentators; and some predictably opportunist commentary by

various recreational zealots and eco-pundits who can generally be

relied upon never to let a chance go by to have a tilt at commercial

fishing and/or the QMS.

A trawl through various recreational fishing website discussion

boards reveals a large number of contributors who have not

properly read the book but who have seized on aspects of it to give

the fishing industry – and in particular the “greedy corporates” - yet

another good kicking. Which in itself perhaps reveals the truth of

the book title in regard to what some Kiwis never wanted to know.

Unfortunately all the facts which constitute the truth of fisheries

management in New Zealand are not consistently served up to

readers.

There is no doubt that serious research and investigation went

into the preparation of Hook Line and Blinkers – but for a book

that promises to tell the reader what he or she never wanted to

know but in the opinions of Morgan and Simmons still very much

needs to know, for me the book fails in one critical area. Yes it is a

good read; yes, I confirm that if you have a genuine interest in the

broader aspects of fisheries management in New Zealand then you

will learn from this book. But the failure is a crucial one in that it

embeds a widely held prejudice against the fishing industry – and

is also one I really do have trouble understanding given the profiles

and reputations of the authors and their acknowledged sources.

My initial criticism of the authors was their lightly questioned

acceptance of the proposition that the commercial fishing industry

wreaks unacceptable environmental damage. “Bottom trawling and by-

catch of marine mammals and seabirds are the best-known examples of

fishing’s negative impacts.” What is missing is any credible comparison

of the environmental performance of other food producers and any

scaling of “negative”. The inference is that the scale is no more robust

than one of public perception fostered by the eco-cults. At least they

go this far -“Squawking greenies are no help either. All food production

has some impact on the earth.”

Filleted of a summary of biology, oceanography and environment;

skinned of its brief world view and various tragedies of the commons, the

book leads the reader to two key problems that the authors see in New

Zealand fisheries - inadequate environmental safeguards on commercial

fishing, and the pathetic management of recreational fishing.

So therein lay the problems but what do Morgan and Simmons

offer as prospective solutions? Not unexpectedly given their level of

research and consideration the authors put their weight behind a quota

management system. But it is in this regard that their book and their

subsequent media presentations perpetuate the modern urban myths

that when the QMS was implemented in 1986 it solely constituted

a commercial fisheries management regime – it did not – and that it

Hook, Line and Blinkers: Everything that Kiwis never wanted to know about fi shing Published by Phantom House Books.

Daryl Sykes reviews a book, which casts a critical eye on New Zealand’s fi shing industry, among other things, and has been generating a lot of publicity since its release last year.

February 2012 SEAFOOD NEW ZEALAND 13

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denied any allowance for recreational fishing – it did not. The authors

write “In the 80s we did lead the world by taking the bold step of

closing the Commons and putting commercial fishing under the Quota

Management System. Well done. ...”

Well done indeed, except that the QMS was intended (and to

some limited extent has been operated as) the New Zealand fisheries

management regime, not solely a commercial fishing management

tool. And it is in the history of the introduction of the QMS that

Morgan and Simmons fail; badly.

I quote “... industry ... got the quota for free” – we did not. ITQs

were a replacement for access and utilisation rights already owned.

Again I quote “The first oversight often raised with our QMS is that it

handed a $4 billion asset to fishers, which is now held by a small group

of large companies. This was probably the biggest swindle since the

European land grab here of the 19th century.” Not true on several

counts. There was no swindle and the social, cultural, environmental and

economic dividends to New Zealand from the QMS have been immense.

And ownership of fishing rights is not confined to a small elite.

I do not understand how Morgan and Simmons felt confident in

making these statements. An opportunity to debate and correct them

would be well received; in part because I have long held the view that

the QMS is poorly named for what it is and more poorly understood

by politicians and the wider community. And the blame for that rests

as much with the fishing industry as it does with anyone else – and for

various reasons. We have a duty to put that right.

The basics of the QMS are not difficult to explain: the fish stock

and environmental ‘management’ components of the QMS rely on

good data, good science and output controls – Total Allowable Catches

(TACs). The ‘quota’ component of the QMS is an ancillary currency of

trade and exchange, at present restricted to commercial participants

but a ‘system’ intended to cover all extractive and non-extractive

interests in fisheries. The architects and original advocates of the QMS

could/should have explained to Morgan and Simmons that the system

is a tradable rights-based regime to allow management of a natural

resource in which there were and continue to be a range of extractive

and non-extractive, and inevitably competing, interests.

Again in my view, that we have failed over 25 years to complete

that rights-based framework and along the way have silently witnessed

various politicians and bureaucrats generally ignoring the option for

rights-based resolution of competing interests justifies this comment

and challenge from the authors – “But since then (1980s) we have

rested on our laurels, and fallen behind. The world has moved

on, and this has shown up some glaring flaws in the way we fish.

Recreational fishing is still a free for all, and there are few controls on

the environmental damage caused by the commercial fishing industry.

It’s time to take off the blinkers and with that wider perspective, first

acknowledge that we are no longer doing such a great job, and then

regain our world leadership.”

Despite my own reservations about some of the authors’

explanations and analyses the book is much more than just a vanity

project for the occasionally philanthropic Morgan and is deserving firstly

of a read, and more importantly of a response. The incorrect assertions

should not go unchallenged and the challenges to the authors (and

from them) should not remain unanswered.