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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TM EDITORIAL Incorporating New Zealand Workboats, NZ Professional Skipper & Oceans maritime industry since 1996 Servicing the ISSN 1176-3078 ISSN 1176-8665 is published by: VIP Publications, 4 Prince Regent Drive, Half Moon Bay, Auckland 2012 Ph 09 533 4336 Fax 09 533 4337 Email keith@skipper.co.nz advertising@skipper.co.nz website: www.skipper.co.nz Editor: Keith Ingram Manager: Vivienne Ingram Editorial assistant: Sandra Gorter Contributors: Baden Pascoe Carol Forsyth Michael Pignéguy Hugh Ware, USA David Ledson Daniel Corbett Stuart Cawker Bruce Duncan Margaret Wind R. Lea Clough Lynton Diggle Trevor Coppock Karyn van Wijngaarden Louise Deehan-Owen Rod McCullum Sandra Gorter Jeff Cook Mark Barrett-Boyes Justine Inns Advertising: Designer: Printers: Distribution: Hamish Stewart Rachel Walker GEON Gordon and Gotch Ltd Subscriptions: Professional Skipper is published for the maritime transport industry. It is available on subscription in NZ and overseas. General: Reproduction of articles and materials published in Professional Skipper in whole or part, is permitted provided the source and author(s) are acknowledged. However, all photographic material is copyright and written permission to reproduce in any shape or form is required. Contributions of a nature relevant to the maritime transport industry are welcomed and industry participants are especially encouraged to contribute. Letters to the Editor should be signed and carry the writer's full name and address. Articles and information printed in Professional Skipper do not necessarily reflect the opinions or formal position or the publishers unless otherwise indicated. Material and information of a formal nature provided by the MSA, MoF or TAIC is identified by the use of their logo. All material published in Professional Skipper is done so with all due care as regards to accuracy and factual content. The publishers and editorial staff however cannot accept responsibility for any inadvertent errors and omissions which may occur. Professional Skipper is produced bi-monthly. Finalist 2008 Qantas Media Awards JUDGED HIGHLY COMMENDED EDITOR OF THE YEAR – MPA AWARDS 2009 C Minister! It's time to KILL THE BEAST learly the debate surrounding Foreign Charter Vessels is not out of the news yet and as a maritime industry advocate it would be remiss not to say to Government, 'well done' thus far. Credit must be afforded to the politicians who heeded the media call to react to the public outcry in regards to the atrocities at sea aboard FCV's, tasked with the responsibility of catching much of our deepwater fish. This magazine carried out months of investigative journalism prior to publishing our own expose into what was the great New Zealand fishing scandal, revealing the commercial fishing industry's darkest and dirty secrets. The result exposed indisputable evidence that many so called respected companies were in cahoots with the foreign owners of chartered fishing vessels in a scandal involving slave labour and destructive fishing practices by rorting the system for profit. Whilst it is commendable that the government has now sent a signal that FCV's must reflag within four years, I believe they are still walking the path of least resistance. Four years is a long time as it allows FCV's operators to reorganise and regroup in a manner that will perpetuate their current bad fishing practices. Two years should be an absolute maximum. The risk is, if there is a change of government, we could be back to square one as parties in any incoming political coalition agreement may prostitute themselves to gain power. Oh what a tangled web we weave with MMP. And remember, Maori own much of the deepwater quota but have no ships. The foreign fishing vessels should now be owned and flagged in New Zealand. There is no shortage of suitable modern deep water fishing ships up to 15 years old, lying surplus in the northern hemisphere. What the government is now saying, is that the 40 year old rust buckets currently fishing our waters can be flagged into NZ on the basis that they are Demise chartered to New Zealand operators. The problem here, is that any smart lawyer could write a Demise charter document that would replicate the current Time charter arrangements to bamboozle officials, even if the vessels were registered in New Zealand. year deadline to continue to rape and pillage the deep water fishery with their shocking fishing practices of dumping and wanton waste. Worse still they do it with slave labour, compromising the country's image in all our export markets. Then, after four years they can dump their rust buckets in the southern ocean, getting rid of the problem of old ships and profiting from insurance claims. No worries, our Government has already extended the hand of ACC and welfare payments to recent families from the Oyang 70 casualty, when the Oyang company has made no contribution to the cost. Is this fair on New Zealanders? Sorry, four years is far to long. The government must be brave and place a clear peg in the ground this year, before the next fishing year starts by making all vessels fishing for New Zealand quota in our EEZ New Zealand flagged, meeting SOLAS and or Maritime NZ standards for New Zealand fishing ships. Crew pay and conditions have to be the same as New Zealand seafarers, paid into local bank accounts after paying PAYE, ACC levies, health insurance. Granted, this may make the deepwater bludgers cough, and cough they may, but once they have cleared the crap from past bad practices out of their throats they will be able to breath easier and reorganise to consolidate quota onto a smaller fleet of more efficient modern ships, manned by New Zealanders – or foreign nationals on equal pay, if we still have a manning shortage. My guess is that once we start paying equal pay, and offering good living and working conditions at sea, we will soon have good Kiwi workers lining up to be trained to work at sea. There are some 2000 sea going jobs up for grabs on these ships. Granted it might take a year to source good modern ships that will meet Maritime NZ standards, and to then train the crew. But let's not worry, the fish wont go away, they will be quite happy to do fishy things as they wait for us. No, compensation is not on the agenda, so Currently there is no interim holding mechanism proposed, such as the requirement to Demise charter immediately, and to pay crew salaries in New Zealand. This means the crews remain without protection and outside the ambit of most New Zealand laws for the next four years. In this case, it is clear that the current jurisdiction and enforcement are problems at all levels, from Health Safety and Employment, Department of Labour and the Maritime Transport Act etc and will continue to be abused. This prospect is totally unacceptable and is abhorrent to most New Zealanders I have spoken with. Sadly, it will put the fish at risk, as unscrupulous operators know they have a four- Keith Ingram, Editor forget it! The deepwater industry is now reaping the rewards of past decisions made decades ago for personal financial gain, when they chose to go down the path of FCV's rather than New Zealandisation. Times have changed and we need to see the scurrilous characters of our deepwater fishery either shape up or ship out. The people of New Zealand now expect the fishing industry to clean up its act and become a responsible citizen within our community. The alternative may result in a public resistance to purchase fish…