Science Media Centre

An article by Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons in the New Zealand Herald highlights the environmental issues surrounding fishing,  drawing on the research presented in their book ‘Hook, Line & Blinkers: Everything Kiwis Never Wanted to Know About Fishing‘. An excerpt (read in full here): Our oceans can’t survive fishing madness The election is looming, [...]

Research led by a New Zealand scientist has shown that salmon farming in Canada may be having a negative impact on wild populations due to the spread of parasites. The research, undertaken by  Dr Martin Krkosek, from Otago Univeristy, and Canadian colleagues, reveals that declines in wild populations of salmon are linked to levels of [...]

Global stocks of phytoplankton — the foundation of the marine food web, and drivers of the ‘biological pump’ that sequesters carbon in the deep ocean — have been falling for last hundred years, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. The study suggests phytoplankton have declined by nearly 40 per cent since [...]

The Ministry of Fisheries has said that despite efforts, the orange roughy fishery on the Chatham Rise is continuing to collapse. As a result, the Ministry is proposing catch reductions for the area next year, although fishing will still be allowed to take place. An excerpt: (read in full here) “New Zealand’s orange roughy fishery [...]

Peter Huck writes in the New Zealand Herald about our fisheries situation, the Quota Management System (introduced in the late 1980s) and the difficulty of balancing long-term and short-term (or economic and conservation) interests. Conservation groups are pushing for the setup of no-fishing reserves, but, although the QMS has attracted criticism recently as being incomplete, [...]

Keri Molloy writes in The Bay Chronicle about a new public awareness campaign, focusing on the destruction of fisheries globally and locally, about to be launched by the Bay of Islands Maritime Park. Management of local fisheries, and sustainable aquaculture practices are topics of increasing interest in the area. An excerpt: (read in full here) [...]

Nick Churchouse writes in the Dominion Post about the view of an eminent NZ scientist that decisions on commercial fishing limits need to be improved. Currently, says Dr John McKoy (NIWA), not enough is known and the limits are susceptible to influence and overly ambiguous and informal. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Dr McKoy [...]

ONLINE BRIEFING: Monday 8 March 2010, 11 am NZT Seaweek kicks off this week with the theme ‘Fish for the future’. But faced with threats of overfishing and global fish stock collapses, will our marine resources survive for future generations? New Zealand manages fishing rights to the world’s fourth largest Exclusive Economic Zone, and fishing [...]

The science behind the catch As we head into Sea Week and New Zealanders digest the message of the hard-hitting documentary The End of the Line which suggests we may be heading towards a “world without fish”, the SMC is gathering fisheries experts to look at New Zealand’s fisheries and their sustainability. Every year, the [...]