The Historical Development of Fisheries in New Zealand with Respect to Sustainable Development Principles

Abstract

"In the mid 1980s New Zealand embarked on a bold journey to economically rationalise its fisheries through the creation and allocation of Individual Transferrable Quotas (ITQs). To this day New Zealand has remained perhaps the nation most committed to these strong property rights in fisheries and has continued to add new species into the ITQ management regime. To its credit, the New Zealand government of the day managed to overcome most of the implementation barriers that have thwarted many other attempts at introducing ITQ schemes. This study reviews the development history of New Zealand's fisheries and addresses the question whether an ITQ scheme is a necessary or sufficient condition to achieving sustainable regional fisheries."