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
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LETTERS CONTINUED… how many trips you did in your logbook. Quote: "If the proposed tax regulation comes into effect and the boat is chartered for less than 62 days a year, there will be no tax benefits for the owners of these boats". Weigh up the cost of keeping the vessel in survey, including all your outgoings and everything you spend to keep your vessel in top shape, plus mooring fees, insurance, haulout, etc. It's a shock, isn't it. But it's worse if that's all gone and you can't recover it from the tax man. I feel it's time for anyone who runs a small business to take on the government. Why not begin a letter campaign to your local member of parliament. Don't let them ride roughshod over your business. It's worth fighting for. None of us want to join Jack Sparrow, we only want to earn an honest living. Michael Rossouw, Jack Tar Sailing Co, Lyttelton OLYMPIA STORY Dear Sir Page 70 of your November/December issue mentions fishing boats imported from Britain and includes the Olympia. She came from Esjberg in Denmark and was crewed by a group of Danish fishermen who settled here. At a later stage two brothers, Tom and Karl Misa, who owned Balmoral Fisheries, purchased her. She was successfully skippered by their son and nephew, Ronni Misa. When they sold the fish shop the Olympia was on-sold. She caught fire on April 6, 1975 and sank off Castlepoint on the Wairarapa coast. Con Linton, Manurewa SORRY STATE Dear Sir The sad state of affairs that currently exists across the New Zealand marine industry is lamentable, to say the least. When I say the "marine industry" I mean the commercial vessel industry, from our almost non-existent deep-water fleet to small coastal operations. Several articles in your always excellent magazine's latest edition (January/February) have really touched a nerve (or two). I start with David Ledson, who sadly appears to have been reduced to making excuses for an under-performing Maritime New Zealand, and not just in this latest article. Suffice to say that whatever enquiry should take place after the Rena incident may certainly open up a real can of worms! It might certainly be a start if Maritime NZ was able to exert more pressure on the foreign charter vessel or FCV fleet, by having a few more of these vessels arrested, not simply detained. This sorry state of affairs should not rest at the feet of Maritime NZ, of course. Successive governments have let the situation get to this point with their "hands-off" attitude to the operation of the fishing vessel industry. Therein also sits the state of affairs with respect to the non-existent coastal cargo-carrying fleets. Again, successive governments have let the current situation develop, not entirely something that can now be controlled by them, due to "globalisation" of world trade. But it's surely not too late to reverse the trend. The will to do something about it may be driven by commercial interests but there needs to be government support, at least in direction. Indeed, it is a great shame that our marine colleges are feeding an ever-expanding offshore industry, with so few opportunities locally. There is of course little incentive for an entrepreneur to want to start up a shipping operation based in New Zealand with 4 Professional Skipper March/April 2012 a New Zealand flag and crew. Unfortunately, the same maritime rules that we find so difficult and over the top in so many instances in our small commercial vessel industry would be the same, if not worse, for any intending deep water operator. We are a small nation but we are continually bound by rule makers who persist in wanting to re-invent the wheel, instead of looking more closely at how things are done by foreign flag states, not always so badly as current news items might wish to convey. Having been involved in most aspects of the shipping industry both in New Zealand and overseas for more years than I care to admit, from a deck cadet aged 17 to navigator and master, shipping agent and ship broker, marine superintendent and more latterly as a marine surveyor, I still strive to make something of the shipping business, both in a meaningful sense and to put bread on the table. But we need more drivers in the industry nation-wide who are prepared to stand up and be counted. Let's hope for better things in 2012, starting with a new broom in Maritime NZ. Some vision and forward thinking from the Ministry of Transport wouldn't go amiss. RJ (Bob) Hawkins, Dunsford Marine Ltd, Auckland QUOTA MYTHS Dear Sir I read with interest the article by Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons on the quota management system and, as one of the many authors of the scheme, I feel I should perhaps endeavour to correct many of the myths surrounding the system as to how and why it was generated. There is no question the New Zealand fishery was in trouble as were those throughout the world and, as in New Zealand, attempts were made to control efforts by regulated input controls. But these had universally failed, mainly because technology moved faster than the regulations could be changed. The decision was taken that the best way to stop killing fish was to stop killing fish. Basic fact number one. Since the signing of the Magna Carta in the 13th century, no-one owns or can own the fish, but the right to manage the fish stocks is vested in the state on behalf of all of us. Fact number two. This was confusing at the time to Maori, who wanted ownership of the fish as in the days before the signing of our Treaty of Waitangi, but they also wanted management rights as administered by the state post-treaty. Hence the creation of areas of special interest to Maori as a compromise so we can get back to basic principles. Before the QMS, the rights to take fish were held by Maori, recreational fishermen and commercial fishermen. These rights were not given by anyone to anyone - they were a fact that had existed historically. Fact number three. There is a constitutional understanding that there be no appropriation of property rights for private gain without compensation. Fact number four. To manage how many fish were being killed, it was necessary to count them or at least get a qualified estimate and then control the mortality rate. This was a major departure internationally from fishery management norms. To do this, all fishermen needed to count the fish they caught, and commercial fishermen had endless forms to fill in. Recreational fishermen had bag limits, as do Maori. The historical catch of commercial fishermen, after some pretty savage but necessary cuts, ultimately became the individual quota. For recreational fishermen, the costs of a quota