Tough decisions, but all need to keep talking



Tough decisions have to be made in fisheries because of increasing pressure on fish stocks, Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said today.



He told the Recreational Fishing Council conference in Gisborne that when he took decisions on fishing allocations, he based his decisions on the best evidence he had in every case.



"I have to recognise that most of the time we don’t have and can’t have complete information. So I have to act on the best evidence I can get.



"I always find that there are people who wish the evidence pointed a different way. And so there are always people who will avoid the truth because - in the words of Al Gore, the truth can be inconvenient. But even if you stop telling the truth, it doesn’t go away just because some people don’t want to hear it. You have to deal with the facts."



Jim Anderton said the deepest fact confronting management of our fisheries was that they were under pressure just about everywhere.



"Because of that, we have to make some tough decisions about how we manage the resource. We have to make tough decisions about sharing the resource. When we try to make soft decisions, then every year we soon put the resource under more pressure. That does no one much good.



"When one sector, commercial or recreational, tries to get someone else to carry its share of the load, all you do is put off the day of reckoning. When you put off tough decisions, they only get harder."



He said the way those hard decisions were worked through was to make sure everyone gets a voice at the table.



"Not everyone gets their way - that’s never going to be possible. But everyone has to get their say."



Jim Anderton said it was important to recognize that all sectors – recreational, Maori, and commercial – had a valid viewpoint and a basis for existing.



That didn’t mean that people would always agree, but all viewpoints and perspectives needed to be listened to. Sectors needed to stay engaged in the process.



He said he had made hard decisions, after listening to all the evidence and viewpoints he could get.



"I am not going to go back on the decisions I have made. I don’t mind making hard decisions. That’s part of the job. What I think you need to know, is that I make them on the basis of evidence, and I am always listening very carefully to fresh perspectives."



Jim Anderton said that if we wanted to keep up the good fishing years, we have to protect our stocks.



"And as we do so, we will relieve some of the pressure, which in turn makes it easier to balance the various perspectives of those who have a stake in each fishery.



"That’s what I have been dedicated to doing. I know it’s not always easy to be involved in the process, but I am convinced that recreational fishers will benefit from the progress we are making.



"And I look forward to hearing the suggestions I am sure you have for me about how we can do better still."