{"id":1442,"date":"2022-04-22T02:42:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T02:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/?p=1442"},"modified":"2025-04-22T03:45:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T03:45:03","slug":"sealord-seamounts-plans-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/2022\/04\/22\/sealord-seamounts-plans-nz\/","title":{"rendered":"Sealord Announces “Breakthrough” Plan for Fishing Seamounts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"seaord<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Media Release <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

He waka eke noa
A waka we are all in with no exception<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Nelson-based fishing company Sealord is proposing that 89% of known seamounts in New Zealand\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) be placed into conservation.

The plan, which it has named \u201cSeamounts Count\u201d, will mean at least 127 of the 142 known seamounts will be protected within a conservation envelope.

Sealord Chief Executive Doug Paulin describes the proposal as a breakthrough in response to a small but concerted campaign by activists to ban fishing on the bountiful pinnacles.   <\/p><\/div><\/div>

\u201cIt is possible to achieve a balance; to conserve the marine environment and continue fishing a very small number of seamounts.<\/p>

\u201cThis breakthrough proposal strikes a balance heavily in favour of conserving seamounts, which support a dazzling array of seafloor marine life.<\/p>

\u201cWe only need to fish 11% of the seamounts to support food, jobs and export earnings for New Zealanders.<\/p>

\u201cA ban on seamount fishing is unnecessary and irresponsible. It is about starvation not sustainability, and there will be no significant ecosystem improvement, and no growth in fish numbers.<\/p>

\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s fishing quota system limits fish harvest to numbers that don\u2019t overwhelm stocks, and this plan means seamount biodiversity will never be threatened \u2013 at least 89%, or 127 seamounts \u2013 will remain pristine and untouched in perpetuity,\u201d Paulin said.<\/p>

The seabed of New Zealand\u2019s trawled seamounts was damaged by past fishing activity, but fish still congregate there. Deepwater fishers continue to trawl along historic tracks of these 15 (or 11%) seamounts for quota. That has left at least 127 seamounts untouched \u2013 and now potentially untouched for the future.<\/p>

Fish congregate on the slopes of seamounts, as do corals and crustaceans, to eat the nutrients that are carried upwards from the depths of the oceans toward the warm surface.<\/p>

Seamounts are abundant volcanic features which rise at least 1000m high off the seafloor. Collectively, they form the largest wildlife habitat on earth, covering more of the earth\u2019s surface than rainforests, deserts, or tundra.<\/p>

\u201cProtecting the marine environment in which we operate is hugely important to Sealord,\u201d Paulin said.<\/p>

\u201cSeamounts are special deep-sea features that support unique marine life \u2013 it\u2019s vital we do our bit to conserve them while striking a balance that still allows a sustainable, healthy food source to feed the world.\u201d<\/p>

NIWA has recorded 142 seamounts in New Zealand\u2019s EEZ \u2013 and is carrying out further research on underwater geographical features due to be released in May.<\/p>

Seamounts in New Zealand\u2019s EEZ are already well protected from bottom trawling through Benthic Protection Areas (BPAs) and Seamount Closure Areas (SCAs). 71 of New Zealand\u2019s 142 seamounts are closed to trawling by BPAs and SCAs. Of the remaining 71 seamounts, 56 have never been trawled.<\/p>

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Release  He waka eke noaA waka we are all in with no exception Nelson-based fishing company Sealord is proposing that 89% of known seamounts in New Zealand\u2019s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) be placed into conservation. The plan, which it has named \u201cSeamounts Count\u201d, will mean at least 127 of the 142 known seamounts will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2853,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions\/2853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hihotest2.co.nz\/sealord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}