Chairperson's Reports
Chairpersons Report 2006
SANZ is an organisation that has been quietly working away in the background since 1998. This time has been used to formulate and formalize our aims and objectives; become a legal entity; gather information and link with stakeholders, (who include : seaweed gatherers, scientists who develop seaweed products or develop seaweed aquaculture strategies, industry people who promote seaweed products, Maori, and other environmentalists who are interested in the integrity of the marine coastal ecosystem). We have also created a website (big thanks to Ruth Ordish) and grown the SANZ membership. During this period we have worked with MFish consistently opposing the QMS as a management system for seaweeds. Ongoing work behind the scenes and the SANZ 2004 submission to the Minister of Fisheries (big thanks to Tim Haggitt) went quite some way to influencing the Minister to suspend seaweed going into the QMS. This period can be considered Phase one – a period where volunteers from all walks put in tremendous time and energy to consider the issues - and it is now over.
2006 has been the beginning of Phase two for SANZ. It is one thing to oppose the QMS for seaweeds and quite another to put up an alternative management system. This year the exec worked very hard on a concept proposal for an alternative that we have tentatively called the LMS (Local License Management System). This model of management has been successfully trialed for two years in Waihau Bay. The concept discussion document was sent to the Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Maori Affairs and the Minister for the Environment last week. We will be seeking meetings with these Ministers to gather support for an alternative to the QMS. A Fisheries Plan now needs to be developed around the LMS proposal and will also be presented to the Minister of Fisheries. The task ahead of us is huge.
We have also recently begun to make links with other established fisheries (e.g. Rock lobster) and organizations e.g. IRL and NIWA that are likely to be affected by the management system that seaweed ultimately goes under. SANZ will have an advertisement and editorial in the next Seafood NZ publication to let the wider fishing community know we are here.
The time for quiet information gathering in the background is well gone. We need to continue to forge links, gather support, make a noise and let people know that SANZ exists. SANZ phase two needs to morph into a very pro-active high profile organization. We all need to encourage other fisheries and organizations to join as associate members Phase two, our current phase, will be characterized by plain, old fashioned, hard work.
Going into the future will be Phase three : The next step beyond ‘nailing down’ a safe management system for seaweeds that is socially, economically and ecologically responsible is to work with the Minister for Economic Development and all stakeholders and call for a National Seaweed Forum to develop a vibrant export lead industry that ensures added value products leave NZ shores. The worst case is that in the future the seaweed industry becomes a raw resource industry based around low value high volume exports. We learnt from sending off our native forests in the past that bare logs and leave bare spaces. The Marine environment will be unforgiving of bare spaces.
This continues to be a pivotal time for the development of a seaweed industry in NZ. SANZ has held a firm line on the principle that a long term sustainable seaweed industry is reliant on the long term ecological sustainability of the seaweed resource and the health of the wider marine coastal ecosystem. Seaweed affects many other marine organisms and therefore other fisheries – this is not an industry that can be built in isolation from the wider marine environment.
I encourage all members to reacquaint themselves with SANZ objectives that are on the website www.sanz.org.nz . I acknowledge the SANZ exec members who work behind the scenes to move these objectives forward. A mighty team of committed volunteers – thank you to all of you.
Just before I step down from the position of Chair I would like to formally acknowledge Ruth Ordish. Ruth is an exceptional woman, a woman of integrity and a committed environmentalist. Ruth has been instrumental in moving SANZ forward, she has created the website and our wonderful newsletters, looked after membership and our finances brilliantly. We have been lucky to have her energy and skills within SANZ for so long. Ruth has taken up studies at University that now require her full attention and she will be stepping down from her position. She will be leaving SANZ today in much better shape than when she arrived and Ruth, we thank you sincerely and wish you all the best for the future.
I now formally step down from the position of Chairperson and hand over to Ruth Ordish
Signed: Jill Bradley Date: 10th September 2006