The Fisheries Amendment Act 2022 (which can be found in the Legislation section of New Westlaw, Practice Area – Fisheries) will make important changes to both commercial and recreational fishing regulations to encourage better fishing practices and to modernise and strengthen New Zealand’s fisheries management system by tightening commercial fishing rules for landings and discards to minimise by-catch; introducing new mechanisms for fisheries decision-making, to enable faster responses to changes in fish stocks; creating new rules and regulations so that fishers are penalised proportionately to their offending; introducing new measures to allow fishers to return catch to the sea if necessary to save protected species; and enabling the use of on-board cameras to observe a wider range of fishing activities.

This Act is part of the wider fisheries reform programme which will update and strengthen the fisheries management system in New Zealand.