Environmentalists claim footage shows coral destruction caused by NZ fishing vessels

The fishing industry acknowledged bottom-trawling did have environmental impacts but argued the damage could have been caused by climate change or coral bleaching and wanted to see more data relating to the activists’ excursion.

Greenpeace provided the Herald with data it says shows cameras were deployed in a known bottom-trawling strip.

The area surveyed overlapped with publicly available trawl management maps from the international agency that regulates high seas fishing, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation.

The agency previously found that - of the 3333 trawl tows carried out in the Northwest Challenger Plateau between 2008 and 2022 - 43% (1440 tows) included instances of nets bringing up deep-sea animals such as corals, sponges and sea fans.

Greenpeace says the video was filmed at Mt Longva, which is an area targeted for orange roughy.

However, consultant and former high seas fishing captain Andy Smith is sceptical about Greenpeace’s claims.

“The Tasman Sea has lots of patches of dead coral rubble, and I suspect Greenpeace has filmed one of these to suggest they were looking at a trawl footprint.”

He wanted to see the exact positions where footage was taken to cross-check the data, telling the Herald tow lines are “very specific” when nets are deployed.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper described the video as “evidence” of destruction by New Zealand trawlers.

“The survey lines we ran that are portrayed in this video, are directly where there has been extensive trawling by the New Zealand bottom trawling fleet. It is undeniable that the coral rubble seen in the footage is the result of bottom-trawling damage.”

Smith argued the video didn’t show evidence of trawling as the seafloor “is not disturbed at all”.

Hooper, who was joined on the trip by a marine scientist and deep-sea molecular biologist, said cameras captured “hours” of footage which was streamed live into the vessel’s wheelhouse.

She said coral ecosystems had been “bulldozed” in the areas they surveyed.

“Recovery will be long – if it can happen at all. To see a coral graveyard like this is devastating, just imagine what it would have looked like before the trawl nets wiped it out.”

New Zealand is the only country still bottom-trawling in the South Pacific and Hooper argued the continued use of bottom contact fishing could cause more damage to vulnerable ecosystems.

Smith likened bottom-trawling to “a farmer ploughing their row” and said skippers often return to the exact same locations when fishing.

“While deviations do and can occur, this is not necessarily the norm,” he said.

‘Climate change’ could have caused damage

Seafood New Zealand’s chief executive Lisa Futschek acknowledged there are high seas trawl corridors that vessels have fished for decades and it’s possible there could be coral damage in such areas.

But she wanted to understand more about the science behind Greenpeace’s investigations, arguing that what’s been presented so far falls short of proving bottom-trawlers are directly responsible.

“There’s all manner of natural processes that would cause coral rubble. There is climate change and coral bleaching. It can also be impacted by fishing, but it’s not the only impact,” she said.

She also emphasised that most of the high seas are closed to bottom-trawling and New Zealand only operates in a “tiny sliver” of the vast waters which encompass the South Pacific.

She said that “99.9% of the high seas in the [regional fisheries management] area is closed to bottom-trawling. You’re talking about 0.1% of the total area [where New Zealand vessels operate].”

Fisheries New Zealand director of science and information Simon Lawrence told the Herald officials monitor the capture of protected species, including corals, in near real-time.

“We can confirm that fishers have accidentally captured coral on the Challenger Plateau over time, noting that some of it extends beyond New Zealand’s EEZ. However, we also note that bottom-trawling in the deep waters tends to cover already fished areas, limiting the effect on new coral,” he said.

Futschek said commercial fishing skippers follow a “very stringent regime” while operating in the high seas, data underpins how and where they fish, and she wanted to meet with Greenpeace to discuss the findings of the group’s investigations.

The release of the footage comes amid rising tensions over New Zealand’s continued opposition to protection measures in the South Pacific.

In March, at a South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation meeting in Santiago, New Zealand officials sought access to Australia’s uncaught orange roughy quota and also wanted to increase the amount of deep-sea coral that can be pulled up by bottom-trawling nets.

Currently, if coral exceeding 15kg is pulled up in a trawl net, the catch triggers an automatic suspension of fishing under international regulations.

Last year, the Herald revealed a New Zealand bottom-trawler hauled up 37kg of coral while fishing in international waters, triggering a suspension of fishing in the area.

The coral capture was reported, as is legally required.

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones – a self-described “industry apostle” – downplayed the incident at the time saying, “I wouldn’t fuss about it too much”.

He has subsequently said the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation has damaged New Zealand’s international fishing interests and suggested it was time the country considered leaving the group completely.

The Government is currently seeking feedback on sweeping fisheries reforms, which include a plan to prevent public access to footage obtained through the use of cameras on commercial fishing vessels.

Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won the best coverage of a major news event at the 2024 Voyager NZ Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video team in July 2024.