Fisheries Amendment Bill
This bill changes the rules for how New Zealand manages its ocean fishing. It lets fishing bosses set catch limits for up to five years at a time (instead of deciding every year), makes it easier for commercial fishers to throw certain fish back into the sea when cameras or observers are watching, and stops anyone from accessing boat camera footage under official information laws. It also sets a 20-working-day deadline to legally challenge fishing decisions, and raises a payment threshold from $1,000 to $2,000 before a fishing licence can be suspended.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
Catch limits must still aim to keep fish stocks at healthy levels, with different rules depending on how much scientists know about each species.
the purpose of the measures set under any of sections 13A, 13E, 14, 14B, and 14L is to manage the effect of fishing on the abundance of quota management stocks at the level of quota management area
a low-information stock is a stock for which there is insufficient information to reliably estimate the status of the stock relative to a level that can produce the maximum sustainable yield and insufficient information to reliably estimate the trends in the abundance of the stock over time
the Minister must take a cautious approach that favours the sustainability of the stock
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Primary Production Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 1 April 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.