The Quota Management System (QMS) is a type of
individual fishing quota Individual fishing quotas (IFQs), also known as "individual transferable quotas" (ITQs), are one kind of '' catch share'', a means by which many governments regulate fishing. The regulator sets a species-specific total allowable catch (TAC), typical ...
that is used in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
to manage fish stocks.
New Zealand fishing industry
Seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
is one of New Zealand's largest
export
An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...
markets, with 85% of catches being exported. Over 90% of the total
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...
raised by the country's fishing industry comes from exported stocks, raising
NZ$3 billion annually.
The most valuable species is the
hoki, ''Macruronus novaezelandiae''.
For the purposes of QMS, New Zealand's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is divided into ten quota management regions. A separate quota is defined for each species in each region, depending on the species' distributions, ranging from a single fishing quota market for the
hoki to eleven for the
abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae. Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or mutto ...
''
Haliotis iris
''Haliotis iris'', common name paua, blackfoot paua or rainbow abalone, is a species of edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Haliotidae, the abalones.Bouchet, P. (2014). Haliotis iris. Accessed through: World Register of Ma ...
''.
History
New Zealand is "the world leader in implementing IFQs".
QMS was introduced by the
Fisheries Amendment Act 1986,
initially covering 26 marine species.
The following year, it covered 30 species, and by 2005, it covered 93 species,
out of the 140 commercial species in New Zealand's
exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
These comprised 550 separate fishing quota markets.
QMS will eventually be extended to cover all living marine resources that are commercially exploited, including
invertebrate
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chorda ...
s, but excluding
marine mammal
Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their ...
s.
Total allowable commercial catch
See also
*
Fishing industry in New Zealand
As with other countries, New Zealand’s 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 4.1 million square kilometres. This is the sixth largest zone in the world, and is fourteen times th ...
*
Environment of New Zealand
The environment of New Zealand is characterised by an endemic flora and fauna which has evolved in near isolation from the rest of the world. The main islands of New Zealand span two biomes, temperate and subtropical, complicated by large mount ...
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Ministry of Fisheries– The Quota Management System
Fishing in New Zealand
Environmental policy in New Zealand
1986 in New Zealand
1986 in the environment
Fish conservation