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On this page:
- What is digital monitoring?
- Why use digital monitoring?
- What's happening?
- Regulations, circulars, and exemptions
- Resources, guides, and support
- Advisory groups
What is digital monitoring?
Digital monitoring is made up of:
- electronic catch reporting via an e-log book – to give us high quality and timely information on commercial catch effort
- electronic position reporting – so we can verify (when used with electronic catch reporting) where and when fishing happened
- on-board cameras – so we can verify what is being reported.
Electronic catch and position reporting
Why use digital monitoring?
The digital monitoring project helps support sustainable fisheries.
A digital system for tracking, reporting, and monitoring commercial fishing activity gives us more accurate and up-to-date information to better inform decision-making by government and the fishing industry.
The aim is to:
- maximise the recreational, customary, commercial, and environmental value of New Zealand's fisheries
- give New Zealanders, and consumers from around the world, confidence that fish from our waters are being managed and caught sustainably
- allow Fisheries New Zealand to verify information being reported and encourage compliance.
Other fisheries around the world also use digital technology to report catch, effort, and position data.
What's happening?
All commercial fishers must report their catch and position electronically.
Find out more about electronic catch and position reporting
On-board cameras were introduced from 1 November 2019 for key vessels that fish in Māui dolphin habitat off the west coast of the North Island. For all other vessels a holding date of 1 October 2021 has been set. Before then, the regulations would not apply to them. On 4 September 2020, the Minister of Fisheries announced new government support to enable on-board cameras to be rolled out further across the inshore fishing fleet.
Find out more about on-board cameras
Regulations, circulars and exemptions
The regulations to enable digital monitoring and innovative trawl technology came into force on 1 October 2017. Amended regulations for electronic catch and position reporting took effect on 10 January 2019.
Amended regulations for on-board cameras took effect on 1 August 2019.
View the regulations, amendments, and exemptions
Resources, guides, and support
Digital monitoring resources and guides
Newsletters for fishers
Digital Monitoring update – August 2020 [PDF, 183 KB]
Support for fishers
Fisheries New Zealand understands that there are many challenges that fishers, their whānau, and their communities face. Find out about some national and regional services that can help and advise on health, wellbeing, and making business decisions.
A Technical Advisory Group is helping us get things right
For the wider rollout of on-board cameras, we’re working with a Technical Advisory Group to inform our work and planning to make sure we get the standards and specifications right.
This group provides advice to Fisheries New Zealand in the development of technical specifications for the wider rollout of on-board cameras. The group includes representatives from industry, environmental NGOs, and Fisheries New Zealand.
2021 Terms of Reference for the Technical Advisory Group [PDF, 882 KB]
Learn more about on-board cameras
Earlier advisory groups no longer active
In the initial rollout of on-board cameras, there were 2 advisory groups that helped us develop the new reporting systems:
- Implementation Advisory Group – to make sure the system was implemented properly. This group provided advice to Fisheries New Zealand in the development of technical specifications for future stages of on-board camera rollouts.
- On-board Cameras Technical Advisory Group – to make sure the standards and specifications for the systems were right.
IEMRS Implementation Advisory Group Terms of Reference and membership [PDF, 236 KB]
On-board Cameras Technical Working Group Terms of Reference and membership [PDF, 1012 KB]
The 2022 to 2024 wider roll-out of on-board cameras
The 2019 proof of concept for on-board cameras
Minutes of the meetings held by the Implementation Advisory Group are available on request to digital.monitoring@mpi.govt.nz
The advisory groups for this earlier phase are now inactive.
