The New Zealand Best Fish Guide - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 372

management internationally (FAO 1995a, b, UN Fish Stocks Agreement 1996).
Where information about the state of a stock or biological information was uncer-
tain or unknown, the fishery was down-weighted in each assessment category. In
each criterion against which a fishery was ranked, a category was included where
there was either inadequate information or none. This was usually rated as a D
or E.

18.3.3 Criteria

Status and sustainability of fish species catches
This criterion assessed the status and sustainable yield of a fishery. In New Zealand,
fish stocks may be assessed annually by the Ministry of Fisheries' stock assessment
working groups (Annala et al . 2002, 2003, 2004, Sullivan 2003, Sullivan et al .
2005) but fewer than 10% of species covered by the QMS have quantitative stock
assessments. Fisheries were rated for the guide in accordance with the best and
most recent information available compared to the requirements of the Fisheries
Act 1996. In particular, these aspects were taken into account.

Total allowable catch

The Minister shall set a total allowable catch that
(a) Maintains the stock at or above a level that can produce the maximum sustainable
yield, having regard to the interdependence of stocks; or
....
(c) Enables the level of any stock whose current level is above that which can produce
the maximum sustainable yield to be altered in a way and at a rate that will result in
the stock moving towards or above a level that can produce the maximum sustainable
yield, having regard to the interdependence of stocks.

The New Zealand 1996 Fisheries Act Purpose and Principles (sections 8 and 9)
require consideration of the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations; to
avoid, remedy or mitigate the adverse effects of fishing; to maintain biodiversity;
and to protect habitat of significance to fisheries management.
The NIWA (1997) definition of 'risky' catch limits defined 'risky' as the absence
of a maximum constant yield (MCY) estimate or when the current TACC is at
least twice the MCY (see Table 18.1). It excluded fish stocks for which there
are current annual yield (CAY) estimates which are calculated from quantitative
stock assessments. The NIWA approach was used to assess the status of individual
species comparing stock size and catch limits to estimated sustainable yields (see
Table 18.2).