Text

New Zealand's Fisheries

I just went back to New Zealand (where I was born) for the first time in 10 years. Some of my best memories from down there as a kid were spending time fishing, either with my granddad or just surfcasting, so needless to say that was a big priority on this return trip. I talked to a lot of people about fishing while I was down there and it's interesting seeing how the numbers have dropped. The snapper still run pretty hard every year, and it's still a lot better that most places around the globe, but overharvesting is beginning to take its toll. I had a long conversation with an ex-commercial fisherman down in Dunedin who was recently forced out of work through a declining catch. New Zealand had started marketing the Orange Roughy pretty hard as an export after better species became fished out. Now, after their numbers eventually became decimated, fisherman have moved over to ling cod, previously regarded as junk fish just as the Orange Roughy had once been. And now they're struggling to make a living with the Ling.

Fishing with my Granddad, he would always have a few favorite spots that consistently returned enough food for a couple of days and some to give to the family. But after a while the Asian, trawlers started showing up. For years they'd been moving further and further away from Asia, and they had eventually reached New Zealand. They fish by dragging their nets across the bottom of the ocean, chewing up the seabed. After one pass the bottom habitat is destroyed. We'd return to these spots after they'd come through and it would be completely silent. Often going hours with barely a bite.

What's currently happening in New Zealand waters has already become so much worse in many countries around the world. The world's fisheries are being depleted.

Compare this to how we think about other areas of business and growth. If you invest in a savings account or a new business it will only grow at a limited rate per year. Take out more than that and you reduce its base value, making it pay out even less each year. In a similar way, fish can only replenish their numbers at a limited rate. Take more than the oceans can give, and catch numbers will continue to plummet.