Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy and Conservation Minister Nick Smith announced yesterday discussions would begin immediately with iwi and quota holders on splitting the quota to allow for better management of both species.
An independent international peer-review panel would also be established to reassess the data on long-fin eels - the largest freshwater eel in the world.
However, it would not be until November when the findings of the panel were received that a decision would be made on whether to suspend commercial fishing of native long-fin eels, the ministers said.
The moves were an interim response to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright's report on long-fin eels released in April.
''We are committed to ensuring its long-term survival and are taking seriously the concerns raised in the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment's report,'' the ministers said.
Commercial eel fishers' spokesman Bill Chisholm said while eel fishers welcomed the independent peer review, as they believed there were deficiencies in the commissioner's report, they were concerned splitting the quota would mean the loss of a substantial history of data.
If it was split, fishers would need to reconfigure their fishing spots, rendering the past 12 years of monitoring useless and providing no management advantage, he said.
They also supported Doc being appropriately resourced to do the policy work.
Fishers believe their independent data, which was collected in a different way from the commissioner's data, supported the long-fin fishery was stable and improving. Freshwater ecologist Dr Gerry Closs, of the University of Otago, said a peer review of the long-fin eel fishery was to be cautiously welcomed but its relevance would depend on its terms of reference.
''Given the eel fishers claim the review of data by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment was selective, the key to a successful and convincing review is an assessment of all available current data.''
He also welcomed the decision to separate the South Island eel quota as, ecologically, the two species were very different and should not be managed as one, he said.
Dunedin freshwater fish specialist Dr Terry Broad agreed but was doubtful Doc had the ability to do the further policy work.
