How Catch Effort data is collected

The Catch Effort system stores catch, effort, landings, onboard processing and environmental information provided to the Ministry of Fisheries by commercial fishers.

The data is collected at sea, or upon landing, on the Ministry's Catch Effort returns.

The returns are required by law for all commercial fishing inside New Zealand's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and, from March 2001, for New Zealand vessels fishing on the high seas.

The information that should be supplied on the returns, and how the returns should be filled in, is defined in the  Fisheries (Reporting) Regulations (PDF Format, supplied by Brookers Ltd) and in the explanatory notes associated with each type of  return. 

Occasional changes to, and exemptions from, the reporting requirements are sent in letters to fishers when the need arises.

Catch Effort returns, and the associated explanatory notes, have changed several times since their introduction in 1989. A calendar of these changes can be found at this link - Catch Effort forms and explanatory notes - calendar of changes.

The Fisheries (Reporting) Regulations have also changed many times since 1989. This library provides only the July 2003 version of the Fisheries (Reporting) Regulations 2001 (PDF Format, supplied by Brookers Ltd). Older versions of the Fisheries (Reporting) Regulations can be obtained from Brooker's Ltd by requesting 'Revoked Regulations'.

It is reasonably common for fishers to make mistakes when filling in Catch Effort returns. A list of some of the more commonly made mistakes is present in the Information Interpretation System spreadsheet.