Luckily for Dunedin Labour list MP Rachel Brooking — the fresh out of the tin Minister for Oceans and Fisheries — just such a thing was sitting on the desk all but ready to go.
Eight days after being sworn in Ms Brooking, whose elevation to Minister outside of Cabinet came courtesy of the demotion of Stuart Nash, was in Auckland, taking in the scenic inner-harbour views offered from the Royal Akarana Yacht Club lounge, to launch public consultation on the draft Fishing Industry Transformation Plan.
Obviously the plan was not drawn in a week ago to make Ms Brooking look like she was hitting the ground running — this is one of eight such plans commissioned by the Government, for sectors ranging from tourism to construction to digital technologies.
But the public service is well used to transitions such as this. Mr Nash’s photo was gone from page 2 of the draft plan, replaced by the beaming visage of Ms Brooking, and the show went on seamlessly.
Ms Brooking is candid enough to admit that oceans and fisheries would not be her specialist Mastermind subject, but the draft plan offers a solid grounding in the basics of the wild-caught side of the industry.
As the minister has now discovered, fishers hauled in $1.45 billion in export revenue last year from wild-capture fisheries. But as the minister, a former environmental lawyer, already knew, the oceans are not exactly flush with good health at the moment.
Ms Brooking’s stated aim for the strategy is for it to boost export revenues but for fisheries to also be as environmentally responsible an industry as possible.
Noble indeed, but what does the plan say about how that can be achieved?
For a start, that the obvious answer — catch more fish — is not an option. Although it is estimated that 96% of the wild catch is from sustainable sources, it is accepted that to keep those fisheries viable for future generations that catch numbers will need to remain roughly where they are now.
Projections are that the total export catch will actually drop by about 10,000 tonnes by 2026, but that the value of that catch will go up by about $50 million.
This is due to the expectation is that the heads and guts — or "non-food fish material" as the report more politely term them — will become of greater value. Rather than simply be turned into fertiliser or fish meal, it is hoped scientists will develop other, more expensive, products from seafood such as oils, peptides, collagens and high-end pet foods.
On page 17 there is a hopeful photo of a hoki in which the tasty bit is surrounded by 19 other possible uses for the rest of the beast . .. which all sounds very promising but in some cases economically efficient extraction methods and/or future markets have yet to be confirmed for those potentially lucrative leftovers.
The draft plan suggests increasing efforts to make nose-to-tail use of fish a reality, and it seems an inarguable point.
What is likely to be more contentious is the section on fishing methods, specifically the vexed issue of trawling and dredging.
Three years ago Parliament received a 50,000 signature petition which called calling for an end to bottom trawling on seamounts.
In the 2021-22 fishing year, 68% of all catch was taken by trawling on or near the bottom of the ocean — which sounds very high, but the report is swift to add that since 1990 about two-thirds of New Zealand’s fishable area has not been trawled and that only about 2% is trawled annually.
But keep adding 2% to 2% and eventually it all adds up to potentially irreparable damage, hence the report proposes a "priority project" between the Government and fishers to drive development of new fishing gear and methods to "reduce adverse impacts on the ocean floor to the maximum extent practicable."
Odds on that extent will not be wide enough for environmentalists, but there is an incentive there for fishers too: wreck their quarry’s home and there will be precious little left to catch.
The plan also aims to help them help themselves by offering financial assistance for fishers to change to what can be very expensive new harvesting gear, and replace old high CO2-producing fishing boats.
"If we want to earn more and at the same time make sure we have healthy oceans, we have to keep finding ways to improve,” Ms Brooking said.
Submissions close on June 11, which leaves little time for Ms Brooking to formulate a response which will satisfy the industry and the Green lobby before she hits the campaign trail.
That will be far from a simple task, so fair to say that the easy bit of her new job is at an end.
Lest we forget
Anzac Day is one of the busiest days of the year for an MP: many of our locals clocked up five services on Tuesday, a feat which requires a lot of driving and plenty of forward planning.
Southland National MP Joseph Mooney started his day in Gore and shared a family connection. The founding president of the town’s RSA, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund Bowler, is a contender to be the first man in the uniform of the New Zealand army to step ashore at Gallipoli that day ... and not far behind, was Joseph Martin Cornwall, Mr Mooney’s great great uncle.
Southern rival
Speaking of Southland, Labour has named Simon McCallum as its candidate for the seat this election.
Although a senior lecturer in software engineering at Victoria University of Wellington, Mr McCallum is no stranger to the South: a former University of Otago student and teaching fellow, he also unsuccessfully sought the nomination in Taieri in 2020.
