International fisheries

NIWA aims to develop and apply standardised methodologies to monitor and assess international fisheries outside the New Zealand EEZ and determine the environmental effects of fishing in these areas.

This programme seeks to ensure that our stakeholders can meet their obligations under international agreements on fisheries outside the New Zealand EEZ. These international agreements, which relate to stock monitoring and assessment and research on the effects of fishing, include:

• The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
• South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO)
• Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
• Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)
• Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
• the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
• the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)
• the United Nations General Assembly and international Non-Governmental Organisations

Research directions

Most of the techniques for this project are similar to the "Assessing Fisheries Resources" programme, but applied in different regions and sometimes to different species.

For details on current projects, key contacts and more in depth information:

• Antarctic fisheries
• Oman resource surveys
• VME surveys