Latest news with #DeepSeaConservationCoalition
RNZ News
08-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Conservation group calls for Chatham Rise orange roughy fishery closure, bottom trawling ban
An orange roughy. Photo: Mountains to Sea A conservation group says the country's largest orange roughy fishery is "past the brink" of collapse - but shutting parts of it down will not be enough to save it. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has begun consultation on this year's orange roughy catch limit, and has included the option to close the East and South Chatham Rise fishery. In the early '80s and '90s, 20,000-30,000 tonnes of orange roughy were pulled out of the ocean every year in the area that spans the Chatham to the sub-Antarctic Islands - known as the Chatham Rise or ORH 3B. But an MPI review this year estimated some orange roughy populations had reduced by up to 90 percent. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said closing a section of the Chatham Rise fishery was a start, but not enough - and wanted to see a blanket ban on bottom sea trawling in all orange roughy breeding grounds. Meanwhile, a case over orange roughy management decisions in 2023 will wrap up on Wednesday at the High Court in Wellington. Citing the years following the "gold rush" of the '80s and '90s, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition's Karli Thomas said the proposal to shut down parts of the orange roughy fishery was nothing new. However, she said the current proposal was significant, given the size of the fishery, and a first in recent years. After reducing the catch limit by 40 percent in 2023 - from 7967 to 4752 - due to sustainability concerns, MPI is asking for feedback on further reductions for the Chatham Rise orange roughy fishery. The options include a catch limit reduction by 23 percent, 42 percent or 60 percent, with the fourth option seeing the closure of the sub-fishery, the East and South Chatham Rise, and the fastest return to healthy stock levels. Thomas said her group would submit in support of the fourth option - but was sceptical that alone would save the fishery when modelling suggested some parts of it were already collapsed. Deep Sea Conservation Coalition's Karli Thomas. Photo: Supplied / Deep Sea Conservation Coalition "We're definitely past the brink. "All the modelling is showing that 80 percent of the population has gone, in some cases more than 90 percent is gone, and that's generally considered the point of collapse for a fishery." She said the fishery's "disastrous state" was a reflection of poor management and wanted to see a complete ban on bottom sea trawling of the fish's breeding grounds and habitat - the impacts of which, she said, were two-fold. "Its habitat is being destroyed, because bottom trawls basically plough through coral gardens , and secondly these fish are being targeted in the very places - the seamounts (underwater mountains) - they go to breed. "So, if we're also disrupting their life cycle - the fish really just don't stand a chance." She said a single orange roughy trawl brought up six tonnes of coral last year. MPI director of fisheries management Emma Taylor said bycatch of that scale, while unfortunate, was very rare. "There are a range of measures in place to minimise the effect of fishing on coral and other habitats, including closures to prevent dredging and trawling on 32 percent of New Zealand's seabed." Despite a catch limit of 4752 tonnes in the 2023-2024 year, only 2691 tonnes of orange roughy were reportedly caught. The figures followed a gradual increase in catch limit size, after a quota low of 3600 tonnes in 2012-2013. A MPI survey of orange roughy stock at the East and South Chatham Rise in 2023 found stock levels were either "flat or declining" - and inconsistent with a previous assessment. That assessment was later rejected. Taylor said the uncertainty about the state of the orange roughy stock led to the precautionary and significant 40 percent catch limit reduction. The management decisions in 2023 are currently being challenged in the High Court at Wellington, with the Environmental Law Initiative claiming the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries failed to consider the harmful effects of bottom trawling in the Chatham Rise. A video still showing orange roughy swimming up to one kilometre below the surface off the South Island. Photo: SUPPLIED Taylor said in the time since, there had been significant work done to update the model used to assess the fishery, "as well as acoustic surveys and other research into the state of the fishery". New information showed more needed to be done to put the "fishery back on track to meet sustainability targets", she said, and Fisheries New Zealand was asking for public feedback on a range of options - including closure. A May 2025 assessment estimated orange roughy stock levels between 8-18 percent of the original biomass (population). The target management range is 30-50 percent. Taylor said orange roughy fisheries had been closed in the past due to concerns about sustainability, as had other fisheries. "Following this consultation, we will prepare advice for Fisheries Minister Shane Jones to make decisions on any changes, which would come into effect for the fishing year starting 1 October 2025." Consultation runs until 28 July. The orange roughy, which lives at depths of up to 1.5km, is slow growing and can live up to 120-130 years - with some reaching more than 200 years-old. Thomas said their long life cycle made them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. She said although they began breeding in their mid-twenties to thirties, it was not until they were in their seventies or eighties that they spawned every year. She said the ocean had an amazing ability to recover, but it would likely take a human lifetime for the orange roughy to bounce back. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Int'l Business Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
UN Summit Celebrates Ocean Protections, But Drops Fossil Fuels
A global oceans summit concludes Friday with nations taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown over deep-sea mining, but criticised for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda. Countries hoping for new financial pledges to assist with combating rising seas and overfishing were also left disappointed at the UN Ocean Conference in France. More than 60 heads of state and government joined thousands of business leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners over five days in the southern city of Nice. The United Nations says the world's oceans are facing an "emergency" and the Nice gathering was just the third -- and the largest yet -- dedicated entirely to the seas. Activists unanimously praised concrete progress toward ratifying a landmark pact to protect marine life in the 60 percent of oceans that lie beyond national waters. "This week's ratifications of the high seas treaty mark a major milestone for ocean action," said Rebecca Hubbard from the High Seas Alliance. Some 19 countries formally ratified the treaty at Nice, taking the overall tally to 50. Sixty nations are needed to enact the treaty. France's special envoy for the oceans, Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, said the numbers would be ready in time for a formal ratification ceremony in September in New York. The treaty should then take effect in January 2026, he added. The conference sought to rally global action on marine protection as countries prepare to tussle over global rules for deep-sea mining in July and a plastics treaty in August. More than 90 ministers issued a symbolic call in Nice for the hard-fought plastics treaty to contain limits on consumption and production of new plastics, something opposed by oil-producing nations. The summit rallied a defence of science and rules-based oversight of common resources -- most notably the unknown depths of the oceans -- in a direct rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Trump was not present in Nice and rarely mentioned by name but his spectre loomed large as leaders backed the global multilateralism he has spurned. In particular, leaders condemned Trump's push to fast-track seabed mining, vowing to resist his unilateral efforts to exploit the ocean floor. Leaders "made it unmistakably clear: deep-sea mining is one of the biggest threats facing our ocean, and the world is saying no," said Sofia Tsenikli from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron called it "madness" while Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned against a "predatory" race for critical minerals. But a global alliance opposed to deep-sea mining, and spearheaded by France, only attracted four new members during the summit, taking the total to 37 nations. Poivre d'Arvor said the alliance would flatly reject any call at a meeting of the International Seabed Authority next month to permit deep-sea exploration. The authority, backed by the UN, has 169 member states. Many nations took the opportunity to unveil plans to create vast new marine protected areas and restrict bottom trawling, which was recently captured in grisly detail in a new David Attenborough documentary. Activists had wanted countries to go further, advocating for a total ban on the destructive fishing method that sees heavy nets dragged across the ocean floor. Some 8.7 billion euros ($10 billion) was committed over the next five years by philanthropists and private investors for the sustainable development of ocean economies. But pledges were less forthcoming from wealthy governments, with France announcing two million euros for climate adaptation in Pacific Island nations. The summit will close later Friday with a joint political statement, negotiated over many months between nations, that critics slammed for omitting any reference to fossil fuels -- the key driver of ocean warming. Laurence Tubiana, CEO at the European Climate Foundation, said Nice showed global cooperation was still possible "but let's not confuse signatures with solutions". "No communique ever cooled a marine heatwave," she said. Former US special climate envoy John Kerry, who was present in Nice, said in a statement that it was impossible to "protect the ocean without confronting the biggest root cause bringing it to the breaking point: the pollution from unabated fossil fuels pumped into the atmosphere".
eNCA
13-06-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
UN summit celebrates ocean protections, but drops fossil fuels
A global oceans summit concludes Friday with nations taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown over deep-sea mining, but criticised for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda. Countries hoping for new financial pledges to assist with combating rising seas and overfishing were also left disappointed at the UN Ocean Conference in France. More than 60 heads of state and government joined thousands of business leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners over five days in the southern city of Nice. The United Nations says the world's oceans are facing an "emergency" and the Nice gathering was just the third -- and the largest yet -- dedicated entirely to the seas. - Treaty tide - Activists unanimously praised concrete progress toward ratifying a landmark pact to protect marine life in the 60 percent of oceans that lie beyond national waters. "This week's ratifications of the high seas treaty mark a major milestone for ocean action," said Rebecca Hubbard from the High Seas Alliance. Some 19 countries formally ratified the treaty at Nice, taking the overall tally to 50. Sixty nations are needed to enact the treaty. France's special envoy for the oceans, Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, said the numbers would be ready in time for a formal ratification ceremony in September in New York. The treaty should then take effect in January 2026, he added. - Plastic push - The conference sought to rally global action on marine protection as countries prepare to tussle over global rules for deep-sea mining in July and a plastics treaty in August. More than 90 ministers issued a symbolic call in Nice for the hard-fought plastics treaty to contain limits on consumption and production of new plastics, something opposed by oil-producing nations. - Elephant in the room - The summit rallied a defence of science and rules-based oversight of common resources -- most notably the unknown depths of the oceans -- in a direct rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Trump was not present in Nice and rarely mentioned by name but his spectre loomed large as leaders backed the global multilateralism he has spurned. In particular, leaders condemned Trump's push to fast-track seabed mining, vowing to resist his unilateral efforts to exploit the ocean floor. - Seabed row - Leaders "made it unmistakably clear: deep-sea mining is one of the biggest threats facing our ocean, and the world is saying no," said Sofia Tsenikli from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron called it "madness" while Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned against a "predatory" race for critical minerals. But a global alliance opposed to deep-sea mining, and spearheaded by France, only attracted four new members during the summit, taking the total to 37 nations. Poivre d'Arvor said the alliance would flatly reject any call at a meeting of the International Seabed Authority next month to permit deep-sea exploration. The authority, backed by the UN, has 169 member states. - Overfishing - Many nations took the opportunity to unveil plans to create vast new marine protected areas and restrict bottom trawling, which was recently captured in grisly detail in a new David Attenborough documentary. Activists had wanted countries to go further, advocating for a total ban on the destructive fishing method that sees heavy nets dragged across the ocean floor. - Missing millions - Some 8.7 billion euros ($10 billion) was committed over the next five years by philanthropists and private investors for the sustainable development of ocean economies. But pledges were less forthcoming from wealthy governments, with France announcing two million euros for climate adaptation in Pacific Island nations. - Flat finish - The summit will close later Friday with a joint political statement, negotiated over many months between nations, that critics slammed for omitting any reference to fossil fuels -- the key driver of ocean warming. Laurence Tubiana, CEO at the European Climate Foundation, said Nice showed global cooperation was still possible "but let's not confuse signatures with solutions". "No communique ever cooled a marine heatwave," she said. Former US special climate envoy John Kerry, who was present in Nice, said in a statement that it was impossible to "protect the ocean without confronting the biggest root cause bringing it to the breaking point: the pollution from unabated fossil fuels pumped into the atmosphere". By Nick Perry And Antoine Agasse
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
UN summit celebrates ocean protections, but drops fossil fuels
A global oceans summit concludes Friday with nations taking major steps toward marine protection and vowing a showdown over deep-sea mining, but criticised for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda. Countries hoping for new financial pledges to assist with combating rising seas and overfishing were also left disappointed at the UN Ocean Conference in France. More than 60 heads of state and government joined thousands of business leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners over five days in the southern city of Nice. The United Nations says the world's oceans are facing an "emergency" and the Nice gathering was just the third -- and the largest yet -- dedicated entirely to the seas. - Treaty tide - Activists unanimously praised concrete progress toward ratifying a landmark pact to protect marine life in the 60 percent of oceans that lie beyond national waters. "This week's ratifications of the high seas treaty mark a major milestone for ocean action," said Rebecca Hubbard from the High Seas Alliance. Some 19 countries formally ratified the treaty at Nice, taking the overall tally to 50. Sixty nations are needed to enact the treaty. France's special envoy for the oceans, Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, said the numbers would be ready in time for a formal ratification ceremony in September in New York. The treaty should then take effect in January 2026, he added. - Plastic push - The conference sought to rally global action on marine protection as countries prepare to tussle over global rules for deep-sea mining in July and a plastics treaty in August. More than 90 ministers issued a symbolic call in Nice for the hard-fought plastics treaty to contain limits on consumption and production of new plastics, something opposed by oil-producing nations. - Elephant in the room - The summit rallied a defence of science and rules-based oversight of common resources -- most notably the unknown depths of the oceans -- in a direct rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Trump was not present in Nice and rarely mentioned by name but his spectre loomed large as leaders backed the global multilateralism he has spurned. In particular, leaders condemned Trump's push to fast-track seabed mining, vowing to resist his unilateral efforts to exploit the ocean floor. - Seabed row - Leaders "made it unmistakably clear: deep-sea mining is one of the biggest threats facing our ocean, and the world is saying no," said Sofia Tsenikli from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron called it "madness" while Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned against a "predatory" race for critical minerals. But a global alliance opposed to deep-sea mining, and spearheaded by France, only attracted four new members during the summit, taking the total to 37 nations. Poivre d'Arvor said the alliance would flatly reject any call at a meeting of the International Seabed Authority next month to permit deep-sea exploration. The authority, backed by the UN, has 169 member states. - Overfishing - Many nations took the opportunity to unveil plans to create vast new marine protected areas and restrict bottom trawling, which was recently captured in grisly detail in a new David Attenborough documentary. Activists had wanted countries to go further, advocating for a total ban on the destructive fishing method that sees heavy nets dragged across the ocean floor. - Missing millions - Some 8.7 billion euros ($10 billion) was committed over the next five years by philanthropists and private investors for the sustainable development of ocean economies. But pledges were less forthcoming from wealthy governments, with France announcing two million euros for climate adaptation in Pacific Island nations. - Flat finish - The summit will close later Friday with a joint political statement, negotiated over many months between nations, that critics slammed for omitting any reference to fossil fuels -- the key driver of ocean warming. Laurence Tubiana, CEO at the European Climate Foundation, said Nice showed global cooperation was still possible "but let's not confuse signatures with solutions". "No communique ever cooled a marine heatwave," she said. Former US special climate envoy John Kerry, who was present in Nice, said in a statement that it was impossible to "protect the ocean without confronting the biggest root cause bringing it to the breaking point: the pollution from unabated fossil fuels pumped into the atmosphere". aag-np/djt
France 24
13-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
UN summit celebrates ocean protections, but drops fossil fuels
Countries hoping for new financial pledges to assist with combating rising seas and overfishing were also left disappointed at the UN Ocean Conference in France. More than 60 heads of state and government joined thousands of business leaders, scientists and environmental campaigners over five days in the southern city of Nice. The United Nations says the world's oceans are facing an "emergency" and the Nice gathering was just the third -- and the largest yet -- dedicated entirely to the seas. Treaty tide Activists unanimously praised concrete progress toward ratifying a landmark pact to protect marine life in the 60 percent of oceans that lie beyond national waters. "This week's ratifications of the high seas treaty mark a major milestone for ocean action," said Rebecca Hubbard from the High Seas Alliance. Some 19 countries formally ratified the treaty at Nice, taking the overall tally to 50. Sixty nations are needed to enact the treaty. France's special envoy for the oceans, Olivier Poivre d'Arvor, said the numbers would be ready in time for a formal ratification ceremony in September in New York. The treaty should then take effect in January 2026, he added. - Plastic push - The conference sought to rally global action on marine protection as countries prepare to tussle over global rules for deep-sea mining in July and a plastics treaty in August. More than 90 ministers issued a symbolic call in Nice for the hard-fought plastics treaty to contain limits on consumption and production of new plastics, something opposed by oil-producing nations. Elephant in the room The summit rallied a defence of science and rules-based oversight of common resources -- most notably the unknown depths of the oceans -- in a direct rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Trump was not present in Nice and rarely mentioned by name but his spectre loomed large as leaders backed the global multilateralism he has spurned. In particular, leaders condemned Trump's push to fast-track seabed mining, vowing to resist his unilateral efforts to exploit the ocean floor. Seabed row Leaders "made it unmistakably clear: deep-sea mining is one of the biggest threats facing our ocean, and the world is saying no," said Sofia Tsenikli from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron called it "madness" while Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned against a "predatory" race for critical minerals. But a global alliance opposed to deep-sea mining, and spearheaded by France, only attracted four new members during the summit, taking the total to 37 nations. Poivre d'Arvor said the alliance would flatly reject any call at a meeting of the International Seabed Authority next month to permit deep-sea exploration. The authority, backed by the UN, has 169 member states. Overfishing Many nations took the opportunity to unveil plans to create vast new marine protected areas and restrict bottom trawling, which was recently captured in grisly detail in a new David Attenborough documentary. Activists had wanted countries to go further, advocating for a total ban on the destructive fishing method that sees heavy nets dragged across the ocean floor. Missing millions Some 8.7 billion euros ($10 billion) was committed over the next five years by philanthropists and private investors for the sustainable development of ocean economies. But pledges were less forthcoming from wealthy governments, with France announcing two million euros for climate adaptation in Pacific Island nations. Flat finish The summit will close later Friday with a joint political statement, negotiated over many months between nations, that critics slammed for omitting any reference to fossil fuels -- the key driver of ocean warming. Laurence Tubiana, CEO at the European Climate Foundation, said Nice showed global cooperation was still possible "but let's not confuse signatures with solutions". "No communique ever cooled a marine heatwave," she said. Former US special climate envoy John Kerry, who was present in Nice, said in a statement that it was impossible to "protect the ocean without confronting the biggest root cause bringing it to the breaking point: the pollution from unabated fossil fuels pumped into the atmosphere".
