Fisheries

Balancing the sustainability of our fisheries stocks and the impacts of fishing on the environment with the economic opportunities they offer is an ongoing challenge.

Fisheries

Open wide: snapper teeth secrets

NIWA and University of Auckland masters student Georgia Third is getting up close and personal with snapper guts and teeth to understand the differences between biologically distinct snapper populations in New Zealand.

A robot sea craft helps count fish

A six-metre-long autonomous vessel is equipped with artificial intelligence and a range of data gathering equipment, including a battery powered echosounder that can estimate the size of fish populations.

Catch sampling

The ear bone of a snapper holds a wealth of information. However, it is not until you look at thousands of them that the picture of a population reveals itself. So where do you get 10,000 snapper ear bones from?

Surveying scallops populations with artificial intelligence

Together with the University of Canterbury and Fisheries NZ, NIWA has been working to develop a catch-free, non-invasive method of surveying scallop populations. Find out how...

To get the most benefit from a fish stock in the long term, we need to maximise our yield without damaging the fish population we rely on.

Epic spiny red rock lobster

Sam Fraser-Baxter heads to the Wairarapa for one of New Zealand’s longest-running marine surveys – counting baby lobster.

Robust science is critical to the sustainable use of New Zealand's significant marine and freshwater fisheries. New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is the fifth-largest in the world and home to over 16,000 marine species.

130 of those species are fished commercially, earning the country $1.5 billion in export receipts each year. Balancing the sustainability of our fisheries stocks and the impacts of fishing on the environment with the economic opportunities they offer is an ongoing challenge.