Effective management of New Zealand’s fisheries is underpinned by the purchasing of research that produces the high quality information required to ensure the sustainable utilisation of these resources. The management of fisheries to achieve these goals is based upon the scientific evaluation of:
- The Status of the Stocks relative to management benchmarks
- Sustainable yield from fisheries resources.
- The effects of fishing on the aquatic environment, including on the viability of associated or dependent species and on biological diversity.
- Alternative strategies for achieving the desired level of yield while avoiding, remedying, or mitigating adverse effects of fishing on the aquatic environment.
- Analysis of relevant cultural, economic, and social factors that may need to be included in the management decision process.
- Specific measures needed to implement the preferred strategy.
Fisheries research focuses mainly on assessment of fishstocks, and investigations into the impacts of fishing on the aquatic environment.
The research work will generally be in the following areas:
- Aquatic environment
- Highly migratory species (HMS)
- Hoki/Middle depths
- Non-commerical fisheries
- Northern inshore
- Rock lobster
- Southern inshore
- Stock assessment methods.