13/12/2025
If Shane Jones is going to talk about “catastrophising”, then let’s start with how our Minister for Oceans and Fisheries is trying to rewrite the story in the face of more than 22,000 public submissions.
That scale of response is not panic; it is the public drawing a line. It is fishers, families, clubs, and coastal communities saying they have had enough of watching their fishery decline while decision-makers tell them everything is fine.
Instead of listening, Jones is now trying to minimise the concerns, belittle the people who spoke up, and frame the backlash as some online overreaction. It is a convenient narrative, but it is not true.
People are alarmed because this government has already signalled where it wants to go. The marlin “consultation” is just the latest example, and we have seen this playbook before. Allowing the landing and sale of dead marlin creates a market. Once the market exists, unsavoury behaviour follows. Swordfish is the textbook case. We went from 50 tonnes of bycatch to a 900-tonne commercial fishery because a rule change created an incentive to target the species while pretending not to.
The same applies to reef fish. These species have been protected for decades because they are slow-growing, vulnerable, and culturally significant. Removing their protection does not improve productivity. It simply opens the door to commercial harvesting of species that were protected because of their vulnerability and their contribution to ecosystem health.
And while this is happening, the Minister is still insisting the upcoming Fisheries Amendment Bill will somehow streamline decision-making and create a “more productive” system. The reform package that Shane delivered, standing shoulder to shoulder with industry heads, is due to return early in the new year, and its goal is simple - strip back red tape so more fish can be caught and exported faster with less scrutiny.
But they can’t fish their way out of a problem.
All of this sits alongside the farce of the “Highly Protected Areas” in the Hauraki Gulf. We said from day one that HPAs were never the bold recovery plan the Gulf needed. But if they were going to be implemented, they should at least be done alongside a package of fisheries management controls. Instead, we have “protection” that covers six percent of the Marine Park while still allowing commercial fishing inside two of the twelve zones and no exclusion of destructive fishing techniques. Public fishing is banned, but commercial fishing is allowed. Cameras are not required, and protection is in name only.
This is why people are angry and why over 22,000 people submitted.
So, Shane Jones can try to diminish the public voice all he wants, but he does not get to redefine reality. People do not forget history. They are witnessing depleted fish stocks, broken promises, and the long pattern of decisions made to benefit a handful of quota owners while everyday New Zealanders pay more for fish harvested from their own waters.
The Minister is heading into an election year, and it would serve all coalition parties well to remember who their supporters are. After all, it was National who appointed Jones to apparently protect the industry balance sheets.
What we really need is a Minister who commits to safeguarding public resources, rebuilding our fisheries, and acting in the interests of the people who are struggling to put food on the table while their fish are exported for profit.
