An environmental policy expert says Shane Jones should spend less time on insulting organisations and more time improving fishery management after new data found commercial fishing companies have been massively underreporting wildlife deaths.
Her comments come after the Oceans and Fisheries Minister labelled environmental NGOs "green politburo banshees".
New data from the Ministry of Primary Industries shows commercial fishing companies had been underreporting wildlife deaths before the camera on boats programme was implemented last year.
The data showed that for the 127 vessels now with cameras, reporting of dolphin captures increased nearly sevenfold while reported albatross interactions were up 3.5 times. The reported volume of fish discarded has increased by almost 50 percent.
The camera rollout was announced by the National Party in 2017 but was delayed several times under the Labour Government due to opposition from coalition partner NZ First.
The cameras have not been fully rolled out yet, with the previous government committing $68 million to fit up to 300 inshore vehicle vessels by next year.
"What's been helpful is commercial fishers… can see the value in an improved transparency and accountability mechanism and they've come on the record publicly saying it is a good idea to proceed with it," WWF-New Zealand CEO Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb told AM on Monday.
She said there are concerns the programme might not proceed after Jones announced he would review the rollout.
Speaking to The Press, he labelled environmental NGOs "green politburo banshees".
He has asked officials to examine whether the FishServe model can be expanded to the camera programme.
Lobby group Seafood NZ owns FishServe. It is an administrative company that collects data from fishers about the accidental capture of protected species, and checks catch reports and quota compliance on behalf of MPI.
"I want to see whether options such as the highly successful FishServe model can be extended to the camera initiative. This is an example of the devolution of services under the Fisheries Act. The camera data must be seen as a sustainability tool, not purely as a compliance bludgeon," he said.
Dr Kingdon-Bebb said Jones' comments were disappointing.
"In this day and age, you would think a senior government minister would think twice about dismissing the leading voices of environmental groups in New Zealand, many of whom are represented by young women, as banshees," she told AM co-host Lloyd Burr.
"As a taxpayer, I would say I prefer the minister to spend a little bit less time conjuring obscure Shakespearean insults and a little bit more time actively working to improve our fisheries management system on the basis of the evidence that's now in front of him."
Jones was particularly concerned about problems with privacy by using cameras in the workplace.
Dr Kingdon-Bebb said she agreed with the principal that caution needs to be applied but noted the settings in place for these cameras are "robust and prioritising individual privacy".
For example, she said the cameras aren't running the whole time, only when fishing events happen.
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