Many Waiheke commercial and recreational fishing organisations contacted by Gulf News said they were unaware of the newly legislated Fishery Transformation Plan released by central government earlier this month.
The fishing plan was criticised by conservationists and fishing aficionados because they say solutions to stop or decrease bottom trawling are barely addressed in the plan.
They also say the government’s will to invest in fishing vessels could leave the door open to fishing industry subsidies.
“It’s pretty hard to read this as anything but a subsidy for the fishing industry,” said Greenpeace Aotearoa oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper in an interview with Newsroom.
Legasea programme lead Sam Woolford says the plan “fails at the first hurdle because there isn’t actually any talk about restoring our fisheries, other than some kind of ambiguous environmental statements.” • Silver Masa
Full story in this week’s Gulf News… Out Now!!!
