UDATE – 2 December 2020
Minister's decision on Lee Fish application
The Minister of Fisheries has reached a decision on Lee Fish’s application for the CRA 1 (Northland) spiny rock lobster fishery. The minister's decision letter and related documents have been released.
Application to hold rock lobster quota in excess of the aggregation limit (Lee Fish) [PDF, 6.2 MB]
Application to hold rock lobster quota in excess of the aggregation limit (Gisborne) [PDF, 1.4 MB]
UPDATE – 15 APRIL 2020
Minister's decision on Gisborne Fisheries' application
This consultation closed on 17 February 2020.
The Minister of Fisheries has reached a decision on the Gisborne Fisheries application to hold quota in excess of the aggregation limit for the CRA 3 (Gisborne) spiny rock lobster fishery. A decision on Lee Fish’s application for the CRA 1 (Northland) spiny rock lobster fishery is pending.
The minister has decided to allow Gisborne Fisheries to hold up to 20.6% (20,596,637) quota shares for spiny rock lobster in CRA 3.
Details and reasons for the decision are in the minister's letter.
Minister's decision letter to Gisborne Fisheries Ltd [PDF, 113 KB]Have your say
Fisheries New Zealand sought feedback from persons or organisations having an interest in rock lobster quota aggregation limit exemption applications received for 2 fisheries:
- CRA 1 (Northland)
- CRA 3 (Gisborne).
Consultation on these applications ran for 5 weeks from 10 January until 17 February 2020.
About the applications
Under the Fisheries Act 1996, no person can own more than 10,000,000 (10 million) quota shares (10%) for any one rock lobster quota management area. This is referred to as an aggregation limit. Section 60 of the Fisheries Act 1996 makes the provision for the Minister of Fisheries to consent to persons holding quota in excess of such aggregation limits, following consultation.
Fisheries New Zealand received 2 applications for exemptions from rock lobster quota aggregation limits:
- Gisborne Fisheries Limited applied to hold rock lobster quota in excess of aggregation limits up to 20,596,637 quota shares (20.6%) in the CRA 3 fishery.
- Lee Fish Limited applied to hold rock lobster quota in excess of aggregation limits up to 20,000,000 quota shares (20%) in the CRA 1 fishery.
Applications for exemptions
Note, the Lee Fish application refers to Leigh Fisheries Ltd. For the purpose of this application, any mention of Leigh Fisheries Ltd is to be interpreted as Lee Fish Ltd.
Gisborne Fisheries’ application [PDF, 199 KB]
Lee Fish’s application [PDF, 1.4 MB]
If you can't open the documents or would like printed copies, email FMSubmissions@mpi.govt.nz
Submissions are public information
Submissions made become public information. People can ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we have to make submissions available unless we have a good reason for withholding it. That is explained in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.
Tell us if you think there are grounds to withhold specific information in any submissions you have made. Reasons might include that it's commercially sensitive or it's personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may tell us to release it.
