31952 (2025). Teanau Tuiono to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries

31952 (2025). Teanau Tuiono to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries: What steps, if any, is the Minister taking to address the impact of bottom trawling on coral ecosystems within New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone, considering the Government’s international commitments to coral conservation?

Hon Shane Jones: The benthic impacts of trawling, including impacts on coral ecosystems, are managed primarily through spatial closures, which have closed 31 percent of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone and 21 percent of the territorial sea to bottom trawling. Fisheries New Zealand will continue to monitor and report the extent of the trawl footprint and monitor captures of benthic organisms, such as protected corals.