The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/172326
MUNZ OR GUILD BY SEAN MCCANN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NEW ZEALAND FISHING INDUSTRY GUILD I n reply to Chris Carey's letter 'MUNZ or Guild' in the June/July issue of Professional Skipper; He seems to imply that the Guild doesn't make enough noise in the media to suit him. Well, we are not too bothered about that. We believe in getting on with the job of looking after our members interests and pushing for more New Zealandisation in the appropriate places. We don't run to the media every few days attacking the industry of which we are a part. There are plenty of groups that have little idea of how the fishing industry works, yet are happy to spend most of their time attacking the industry. The fishing industry is very different to general commercial shipping. In the merchant navy, the crew simply has to get the vessel from one port to another. The quality of the crew doesn't really matter unless they run over a reef somewhere – Rena style. The old USSR fishing vessels operated a bit like merchant ships, more than twice as many crew as New Zealand vessels and dead in the water once their massive government subsidies were stopped. On fishing vessels big or small the crew can make it or break it, this applies on every fishing vessel and on every trip. A good skipper and crew working as a team can catch their fish more quickly and land it in a premium condition, making for a profitable operation. A bad crew can break and lose gear, take longer to catch less fish and land it in a poor condition, sending themselves and the boat owner broke. So, to be a good fisherman you need the hunting instinct and a keen, well trained crew who are not scared of work. Fishing does involve real work, so a lazy bugger on the boat costs everybody money. That is not the case in the merchant navy, where a lazy bugger might be a nuisance but he doesn't affect what the rest of the crew get paid. It still surprises me how many quota and fishing vessel owners don't value their fishermen. Some New Zealand quota owners have been decimating the owner operator inshore vessel fleet by overcharging for quota and under paying for the landed fish. The owner operator can't afford the running and upkeep of his vessel, can't afford to pay a decent crew and the whole thing spirals down until they tie up and walk away from fishing. Maybe these quota owners have been hoping that they could bring in foreign vessels and crews (working for semi-slave wages) to catch their quota, but under the soon-to-come-into-force legislation, this isn't going to happen. These quota owners will have to get real. Ultimately, fish is only worth something when PAUL DEACON New Ze ew sio sion sion ion al VIP.S95 VIP.S95 95 38 All Classes & types of vessels undertaken. Merchant, Naval, Fishing & Sail. 021 259 0646 Professional Skipper September/October 2013 landed and sold. Fishing vessels and their crews are absolutely essential to achieve that objective. The Guild believes that the best return to New Zealand from our fishing industry will come when the majority of our quota species are being caught by New Zealanders working on New Zealand vessels. In the not too distant future, the vessels will all be New Zealand flagged but not necessarily New Zealand crewed. As Professional Skipper editor Keith Ingram has pointed out more than once in his editorials, a lot of our fishing vessels are very old. Well, so are a lot of our fishermen. We need more young New Zealanders to get into the industry – and for that to happen some things will have to change. The primary industries, farming, forestry and fishing need workers but have trouble getting workers; despite the fact we have more than 160,000 unemployed and thousands leaving school every year. There is a disconnect between our education system, our welfare system and our need for workers. Farming and fishing can be well paid, rewarding careers – that needs to be explained to school leavers. They should not be left with the impression that the primary industries that enable New Zealand to remain a first world country are bad for the planet. They're not. Our quota system is a world leader in sustainable fisheries management, our farmers and horticulturalists are among the best in the world and we are improving our techniques all the time. The Government and the primary industries should be working together to get school leavers into work quickly, rather than encouraging them to get into debt racking up student loans on courses that don't lead to reasonably paying jobs. The first question to students taking out student loans should be: How are you going to pay this back? Another issue some young people have with working in the fishing industry is drug testing. Drug testing is becoming much more common in all sorts of workplaces for both blue and white collar workers, and it's only going one way, there's going to be more. Ultimately, most workers will experience random drug testing and if people have to be drug free to work why shouldn't they be drug free to receive an unemployment benefit from the taxpayers? Hopefully, the way the Government are moving on this matter it will become a non issue in the not too distant future, but at the moment it certainly is an issue. The Guild believes that the Government, the education system the farming and fishing industries should be working together to get interested school leavers onto farms and fishing vessels as quickly as possible. That way they can earn and learn at the same time, setting themselves up for life through their late teens instead of spending those years getting into student loan debt that often leads nowhere, and in fact means they start working life with a financial handicap taking years to clear. So Chris Carey, the Guild has put these views and more to every Minister of Fisheries. We did make a submission and appeared before the Paul Swain Inquiry into FCVs and the same with the recent select committee on FCVs and the new legislation. So, we are not as mute as you think. Who knows, Chris, in the future the real New Zealand deepwater fleet might expand and we could see you back running a factory trawler. I know that you like Indonesian crew, but I like to think you'd be just as happy with a crew of keen New Zealanders. Back to the good old "Carefree Carey" days! www.skipper.co.nz