Government needs to get Fishing reform bill passed now

The Mar­itime Union is urg­ing the Gov­ern­ment to push through a Bill reform­ing the fish­ing indus­try.

Mar­itime Union of New Zealand Nation­al Sec­re­tary Joe Fleet­wood says there will be seri­ous reper­cus­sions if the Fish­eries (For­eign Char­ter Ves­sels and Oth­er Mat­ters) Amend­ment Bill is not passed in the final sit­ting week of this Par­lia­ment.

Mr Fleet­wood says he is sure both the Gov­ern­ment and the fish­ing indus­try are aware of the urgency of this leg­is­la­tion and the need for it to be passed.

“There is mul­ti-par­ty sup­port for this Bill.”

Any fur­ther delays to the Bill expos­es fish­ing crews to unac­cept­able dan­ger and dis­ad­van­tage, as well as fur­ther dam­ag­ing the com­mer­cial rep­u­ta­tion of New Zealand’s fish­ing indus­try in key export mar­kets, says Mr Fleet­wood.

“Fur­ther inex­plic­a­ble delays to the pas­sage of this leg­is­la­tion sends a very poor mes­sage about New Zealand’s com­mit­ment to a mod­ern, eth­i­cal fish­ing indus­try.”

The Mar­itime Union is strong­ly in favour of the Bill’s require­ment that For­eign Char­ter Ves­sels in the fish­ing indus­try are reflagged under the New Zealand flag, although it believes the time­frame for intro­duc­tion is too long.