Commercial fishermen are still sceptical about the $1 million summer observer programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Fisheries to monitor their interaction with birds and mammals, like dolphins.
Last summer, the programme caused divisions between many fishermen and the ministry, with some southern fishermen refusing to take observers on board.
It resulted in a Dunedin and a Bluff fisherman being prosecuted by the ministry.
Their cases are still to be heard in court.
This year, the observer programme, which has just started, was being spread over six months ending in April, rather than the last season's two months.
Ministry of Fisheries manager, inshore fisheries, Leigh Mitchell said 17 observers were being placed on boats, with six working in Otago and Southland, to collect information on the "abundance and behaviour of birds and mammals around commercial vessels and their interaction with fishing gear".
Seven more were being trained.
Port Chalmers Fishing co-operative president Steve Little, one of the fishermen being prosecuted, said this summer the ministry was looking at a more collaborative approach, but there were still concerns about safety and where the liability lay if anything went wrong.
Federation of Commercial Fishermen chief executive Peter Dawson said while the ministry had taken part in a southern "road show" and had listened to fishermen's often vocal and blunt concerns about the programme, they were still "sceptical" about the values of the programme.
"The jury's out, but at least we are communicating."
It was hoped the ministry's "draconian approach" to managing the programme, which got fishermen's backs up last summer, was to be avoided this year with a more equitable approach to placement, he said.
The industry still struggled to understand why the programme was needed when the 963 days observers recorded on boats last summer failed to note a dolphin entanglement.
"Yet they're repeating it again with likely the same outcome."
Ms Mitchell said co-operation between fishermen and the ministry had been very good and the ministry was working with the Department of Conservation and the industry to further improve the planning process for future programmes.
This year, individual fishermen involved in the programme had been contacted directly to discuss and work through any issues related to carrying observers.
