Christopher Hepburn

Pathways to fisheries restoration
Community management, science and traditional ecological
knowledge
Christopher Hepburn, Stephen Wing,
Henrik Moller and Nigel Scott

History of New Zealand’s fisheries

Rebuilding Global Fisheries. Boris Worm et al. (2009) SCIENCE
VOL 325
New Zealand’s
Quota Management System
25 years old
Model system
“Not overfished” (Worm et al. 2009)

Local stories of decline...
…since the ’90s ... If you want pāua
[abalone] you have to have a wet suit.
...our people … are seeing those
[commercial] boats just outside the
waves taking their kai [food]….those
trawlers just seem to wipe the whole
inshore fishery out.
…I cannot get my daughter, who’s 14, a
fish off our traditional reef. It’s as
simple as that.

Haliotis iris: New Zealand’s
iconic gastropod fishery
“Number one fisheries concern” of
most people
Paua is a taonga species of
indigenous people
Local population structure
Pāua support a commercial fishery
worth $50 million to the New Zealand
economy
Haliotis fisheries have collapsed in
many regions

QMS Paua management–
One size fits all approach
125 mm
10 per person per day
Breath-hold diving only

We must capture variability in our
management interventions

Treaty settlement
10% of existing and 20% of new quota
Customary fisheries tools
Temporary closures
Taiapure
Mataitai

Addressing variability and change:
Customary Management areas
Coastal
Marine
Reserves
375 km 2
Customary
Management
Areas
560 km 2
•Legislation to allow local communities
to manage fisheries at scales relevant
to the stock
•Opportunity for area management
network
•Major investment must be supported
by the best management and science

Science to support ecosystem
fisheries
Productivity and structure of coastal
ecosystems
How coastal systems will respond to
change
How primary productivity relates to
productivity of fisheries
Engaging research in management
tools to address variability, change
and conflict within coastal fisheries
Restoring fisheries with aquaculture

Supporting local management of
fisheries
WHAT ARE IMPORTANT TRAITS
THAT INDICATE PRODUCTIVE PAUA
FISHERIES?
Baseline surveys (size,
density, distribution,
relationships with habitat and
other species)
Tagging programme (growth,
movement, morphological,
genetic information)
Linking primary productivity to
fishery productivity

Regional Variability: population structure

Case Study: East Otago Taiapure
800 years of habitation and
use
First mooted in 1989 in
response to concerns of
elders of Kāti Huirapa ki
Puketeraki for diminishing
pāua stock
Applied for in 1992
Established in 1999 and
committee formed in 2002
First regulation in 2007 (set
net restriction)

East Otago
Taiapure

The Process
Science supported local and
customary knowledge
Guiding management initiatives
Providing information to the
community (science evening,
meeting, publication in local
papers)
Providing evidence to government

Outputs: Changing public policy
Reduced bag limits
•Paua (10 to 5)
•Kina (50 to 10)
•Tuaki/cockles (150-50)
•Maximum combined shellfish 150-50
•finfish 30 to 10
Temporary Closure
•2 year closure of Huriawa (Karitane
Peninsula)
to fishing for pāua
No expansion of commercial tuaki fishing

Moving to fishery
restoration
Better fisheries management
- Reef-by-reef management
- Community-led management
- Approaches using traditional
ecological knowledge
Reseeding stock from aquaculture
to restore fisheries

Te Whaka a Te Wera
Paterson Inlet
Map Source: Ministry of Fisheries

Conclusions
Quota management system has failed
many inshore fisheries in New Zealand
Customary tools may provide a pathway for
better management and eventual
restoration of local fisheries
Communities need the scientific support
and tools to make local management
interventions work
Successful fishery management cannot
occur without protection of habitat

Acknowledgements
Thanks to everyone who has helped out over the last few
years especially, former and current students and staff at the
Marine Science and Botany Departments, members of Te
Tiaki Mahinga Kai, and the local communities around the
East Otago Taiāpure, Te Punawai o Tōriki Mātaitai,
Koukourārata Mātaitai, Whareponga and Waitutu.
I appreciate the knowledge and support of my mentors
Catriona Hurd, Brendan Flack, Maureen Wylie, Graeme
Grennell and Tiny Metzger.
Without the enthusiasm of University of Otago students my
work would not be possible. Chris Hepburn is funded by a
FRST TTP Fellowship (UOOX079)