OIA25-0777
4 December 2025
Katrina Sidaway
[FYI request #32755 email]
Dear Katrina,
Thank you for your email of 6 November 2025 requesting information relating to fisheries
observer coverage and boat sinkings since 2000. Your request has been considered under
the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
You requested the following:
I have two requests regarding the fisheries observer programme:
Question 1:
•
I request a table showing the annual level of fishery observer coverage on deep-
sea trawl boats for each year since 2000, disaggregated for each year by
observer deployment status (i.e. dual observer, single observer, and no observer),
expressed in days at sea.
•
For this request, “deep-sea trawl boats” means any vessel targeting orange
roughy, hoki, squid, oreo, or southern blue whiting within New Zealand’s
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), or undertaking transboundary fishing (i.e. both
inside and outside the EEZ within the same voyage).
Observer coverage percentages are calculated by the number of total fishing events (trawl
events) divided by number of events observers are placed on vessels for, for each respective
fishery. Data is not broken down by number of observers placed on vessels, only whether a
vessel has had any observer coverage during a trip. To provide observer coverage data as
requested would require substantial manual collation and verification of data. As such, this
part of your request is declined under section 18(f) -
that the information requested cannot be
made available without substantial collation or research.
Total observer days are set out in each year’s seadays plan which Fisheries New Zealand
(FNZ) consults on annual y and which is published here:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-
aquaculture/commercial-fishing/operating-as-a-commercial-fisher/fisheries-observer-
services.
Fishery observer coverage data since 2012 is publicly available on the Ministry for Primary
Industries (MPI)’s website:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-aquaculture/sustainable-
fisheries/commercial-fishing-monitored-by-fisheries-observers.
Fisheries New Zealand
Verification & Operations
Charles Fergusson Building
38-42 Bowen Street
PO Box 2526
Wel ington 6140, New Zealand
mpi.govt.nz
Question 2:
•
I request an annualised table or simple total (if disaggregated data is not
available) showing the number of fishing boats (of any fishery) in which the crew
required a rescue at sea (e.g. capsized, sunk, or grounded) while a fisheries
observer was on board since 2000.
FNZ is committed to ensuring the health and safety of observers. We conduct pre-placement
health and safety assessments and work with the commercial fishing industry to share
learnings and improve outcomes. More information on observer health and safety is available
on our website:
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-aquaculture/commercial-fishing/operating-as-
a-commercial-fisher/fisheries-observer-services/fisheries-observer-health-and-
safety#PPHSA. FNZ maintains records of all health and safety incidents and where applicable, takes
learnings and actions to further enhance observer safety and wellbeing. There is a wide
variety of types of potential safety incidents that may be reported and recorded from
observers, and rescues of crew members and/or observers from vessels requiring at sea
assistance is a small subset of all incidents reported.
The way these incidents are recorded however, would require substantial manual collation to
identify and prepare this information for release to you. Furthermore, the current database
recording observer incidents does not hold records dating as far back as 2000.
Consequently, this part of your request is declined under section 18(f) of the OIA
.
More fulsome records specifically concerning vessel rescues are likely held by Maritime New
Zealand, and I refer you to them for further enquiries.
Should you have any concerns with this response, I would encourage you to raise these with
the Ministry for Primary Industries at
[email address]. Alternatively, you
are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143 or at
[email address]. Yours sincerely,
Monique Andrew
Director Verification & Operations
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