![]() The Resource Management Act provides the court with the power to prohibit or restrict the communication of any information obtained by it in the course of the proceedings and to exclude the public from a hearing where that information is likely to be referred to. ![]() They added that while the electronic catch and position data has been anonymised, it may not always be sufficient to ensure that a vessel, person, or company cannot be identified. Position data indicated the location of fishing grounds, therefore the disclosure of this information could “unreasonably prejudice the commercial position of the operator who supplied it by making that position known to competitors”. The parties submitted that a commercial operator’s fishing knowledge is a valuable commodity and is commercially sensitive. It includes a single “heat map” provided by the Ministry for Primary Industries, and the likely disclosure of commercial data collected by MPI for Fisheries Act enforcement and monitoring, which is data not typically available to the public, the Environment Court said in its decision to grant the order. The evidence necessary to explore the overlap between this habitat and the activities of the fishing industry groups is to be presented at the forthcoming appeal hearing, but it contains information the industry wants to keep under wraps.Įvidence to be filed in these proceedings contains sensitive location information in the form of maps and tables related to the location of commercial fishing in the areas which are the subject of the appeal. However, details outlined in the appeal document suggest the group doesn’t feel the plan goes far enough to protect the confined habitat of the nationally endangered New Zealand King Shag, which breeds and feeds only in the outer Sounds.ĭata collected since the early 1990s identified a feeding area for this indigenous seabird, which now numbers about 840, of about 1300 square kilometres. The group acknowledged the plan’s proposed establishment of a network of marine and coastal areas for threatened and internationally significant seabird populations, of which Marlborough in particular supported a “significant diversity”. It also felt that policy framework around the environment plan took a narrow approach to the protection of biodiversity in the coastal environment. ![]() The habitat is also an area of interest for commercial and recreational fishers. The outer Pelorus Sound is home to the rare and endemic New Zealand King Shag, which is the focus of protection by environmental groups. The group declined to speak with NZME, but a summary of its notice of appeal lodged with the Environment Court shows the group is concerned about what it sees as flawed attempts at preserving Marlborough’s natural character and landscape and indigenous biodiversity. ![]()
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