More than 30 Moana contracted commercial fishers attended a workshop last week in Whangarei, to learn the fundamentals of the new Electronic Reporting (ER) and Geographic Position Reporting (GPR) systems being introduced this year.
The workshop is the third round of training under Moana New Zealand’s Responsible Fishers Programme.
This year, the Ministry for Primary Industries requires all fishers to switch from paper based reporting systems, to electronic reporting systems which aim to improve the accuracy of data captured by commercial fishers in New Zealand.
In conjunction with Fisheries Inshore New Zealand (FINZ) and Seafood Innovations Limited (SIL), Moana New Zealand is working to ensure its contract fishers are well equipped to adopt the new ‘Deckhand.nz’ app that will streamline the way data is supplied, monitored and assessed.
The fishers who attended the workshop will participate in a research trial project ahead of the statutory ER data reporting date, funded and operated by FINZ and supported by Moana New Zealand.
“Switching from paper-based to electronic reporting will not only help in the data collection process, but also provide an easy means for fishers to record their catches,” says Nathan Reid, Moana New Zealand quota and resource manager.
“Moana New Zealand is committed to helping and guiding contract fishers through this process of change to make it as smooth as possible,” says Reid, in a statement.
While members of Moana New Zealand’s senior management team facilitated the workshop, Moana also drew on the expertise of Trident Systems, Fishserve Innovations New Zealand and FINZ to discuss the benefits of ER and GPR for fishers and the industry.
“Even though Moana New Zealand do not own any of our own vessels and our contract fishers are their own locally run, independent businesses, we still have a responsibility to ensure our fishers are living by our value of kaitiakitanga,” says Moana New Zealand CEO Steve Tarrant.
“By bringing industry experts into the communities of our contract fishers we can facilitate healthy discussion on industry issues and equip fishers with the skills to use softwares and systems competently ahead of them becoming statutory.”
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