Was there a Cabinet paper prepared to amend the Fisheries Act to remove minimum size limits for commercial fishers, and if so, what is the title of that paper, on what date was it considered by Cabinet?

Answer

In 2022, Parliament enacted the Fisheries Amendment Act 2022, which requires all Quota Management System (QMS) fish to be landed unless one of three new exception provisions are met, such as there being acceptable likelihood of survival. The 2022 amendments required existing exceptions (including all minimum size limits for QMS finfish) to be reviewed to determine whether they meet one of these three provisions or they would otherwise expire on 30 September 2026. I understand that Cabinet papers relating to the Fisheries Amendment Act 2022 were proactively released by the previous Government. I progressed Cabinet papers which included the proposal to expedite this process through removing some of the existing exceptions that require a review under the Fisheries Amendment Act 2022, where it was assessed that these existing exceptions were unlikely to meet the requirements of the Act to continue. The titles and dates of these Cabinet papers are set out below. • 9 December 2024 -Consultation on proposed changes to the Fisheries Act 1996 • 4 August 2025 - Proposed changes to the Fisheries Act 1996 • 16 March 2026 - Fisheries Amendment Bill: Approval for Introduction