A union is calling on the fisheries regulator to overhaul the industry so that three-quarters of jobs go to New Zealanders.
E Tū says fewer than 40 percent of fisheries workers are New Zealand citizens or residents. Photo: 123rf.com
In its submission on the Ministry for Primary Industries future of fisheries plan, E Tū union said in the past 15 years processing jobs had been exported to Asia and jobs on boats have gone to cheap, short-term migrant labour.
"The industry seems to be focusing on achieving the lowest possible labour cost," said union spokesperson Neville Donaldson. "These are all jobs that should be showing value and respect for New Zealanders."
Mr Donaldson said industry claimed to employ 8000 people and fewer than 40 percent were New Zealand citizens or residents.
Lobby group Seafood New Zealand said those figures were wrong, and there were 26,000 fisheries-related jobs, most of them local, with just 250 foreign workers on deepwater boats.
The group's chief executive Tim Pankhurst said big investment was going on and local jobs were being created .
"Iwi are the largest industry shareholders. Sealord has just commissioned a $70 million trawler which will provide an additional 85 local jobs. Moana has just taken delivery of the first state-of-the-art inshore trawlers, built in Nelson. And Sanford, which is a publicly listed company, has also commissioned a new deepwater trawler."
E Tū's submission also called for government regulation to ensure at least three-quarters of the fish caught is processed in New Zealand by workers here, rather than being processed in Asia.
Quota management system needs review - ECO
A conservation group is calling on the fisheries regulator to overhaul the whole quota management system as part of the review.
Environment and conservation organisations group ECO said big companies were dominating decision-making at the expense of long-term fish management.
Spokesperson Cath Wallace said the quota management system was failing and should be reviewed.
"It just looks at things on a fish stock-by-fish stock basis, it doesn't look at the interactions," she said.
"We do welcome [the ministry's] willingness to have a look at ecosystem-based management, but again, that isn't going to work if it's given to the industry to figure out.
"And they are well behind - everyone else in the world just about has been doing that since the '90s."
Ms Wallace said the focus must shift from selling quota to returning value from a public resource to New Zealand as a whole and not just a few big companies.
Tim Pankhurst of Seafood New Zealand said the ministry's latest stock-take of fish showed the industry was working sustainably
Submissions on the MPI plan end today.