46th South Fish Co.

46 South predominately works with the inshore fisheries surrounding New Zealand's idyllic remote coastline. The boats range from 40-70ft in length & are generally crewed by 2-3 people. Trips last anywhere from 1-3 days. These fishermen brave the southern ocean elements to see that premium harvested seafood is delivered on a consistent basis to both domestic and overseas markets.

A question that is often asked is ‘bycatch’. Often when fishing there is a target species. Usually species like Red Bream/Snapper or Monkfish. When fishing you cant just put up a sign and ask that the one species takes the bait or swims into the net! The way New Zealand’s Quota Management System works it that each fisher must have quota to land all their species. So if they are targeting Monkfish but also are catching Sole, Gurnard, Skate, Dogfish and Elephant fish then they must ensure that they have sufficient quota to cover all these species. If they don't then penalties are incurred. This forces the fisher into not fishing that area if they don't have the quota remaining for that calendar year and know they might catch other species. You then might ask ‘ Well whats stopping the fisher from dumping the unwanted species’ !? The answer...strict enforcement to maintain the integrity of the Quota Management System. This is either via profiling, observers and video cameras. Profiling works in that if the paperwork (catch reports) doesn't match up with all the honest fishermen in the area then an investigation will begin into that boat using ariel observations, or reviewing video data if the vessel is fitted. The penalties are that severe that the fisher once caught will unlikely be able to commercially fish ever again.