QMS Introduction History
Investigation document: QMS Introduction History
QMS INTRODUCTION - WHO LOBBIED, WHO BENEFITED
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Date: 29 December 2025
Source: Jim Anderton speech, 20th anniversary QMS celebration, 24 May 2007
Location: The Boatshed, Queens Wharf, Wellington
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KEY PLAYERS IN QMS INTRODUCTION
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MINISTERS WHO CHAMPIONED QMS:
- DUNCAN MacINTYRE
- "Began preliminary work to find solutions"
- COLIN MOYLE
- "Got Cabinet approval for the Fisheries Amendment Act 1986"
- KEY FIGURE - pushed QMS through Cabinet
- KEN SHIRLEY
- "Oversaw the interim settlement with Maori in 1989"
- "Quota was bought back and given to Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission"
- DOUG KIDD
- "Cash settlement was used to buy Sealord"
- "Maori will now receive twenty percent of commercial quota shares"
- "Was in the chair when the Fisheries Act was passed in 1996"
- "Created the ministry when Fisheries was split from Agriculture Ministry"
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THE ECONOMIC THEORY BEHIND QMS
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From the speech:
"Economists would say politicians have our own tragedy of the commons...
but they did have a solution to the problem of our fishery."
"Around the same time we started to fish our oceans hard, Garrett Hardin
wrote an essay in the journal 'Science', called the 'The Tragedy of the
Commons'."
"New Zealand went further: We limited how many fish could be caught and
then introduced individual transferable quotas to formalise in law the
right of particular individuals to catch those fish."
KEY POINT:
"Fishing businesses were given quota based on their record, and they could
use their quota to fish themselves, lease out to others or sell."
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GAMING THE SYSTEM - ADMITTED IN SPEECH
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CRITICAL ADMISSION:
"There were stories of small inshore boats heading out and trailing the
large orange roughy vessels as they were trawling. The boats would net
spilt orange roughy on the surface in the wake of the larger vessel and
head back to port with their catch. A SMALL CATCH OF ROUGHY SECURED A
FISHER A HUNDRED TONNES OF QUOTA ALLOCATION!"
"Then there was the case where a very enterprising individual secured
quota based on a net-winch in his backyard. I'm not sure whether this
proved dependence or commitment, but it netted him quota."
THIS PROVES:
- The system was gamed from the start
- Small catches could secure massive quota allocations
- The allocation process was exploitable
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CONSOLIDATION - ADMITTED CONSEQUENCE
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From the speech:
"The QMS concentrates market power in the hands of those with large and
diversified quota holdings."
"The QMS is leading to the EXTINCTION OF OWNER-OPERATOR FISHERS"
"In the future I believe most fishers will be contractors working for
large companies."
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JENSSENS:
- Owner-operators were driven out
- Large companies consolidated quota
- Small fishers became extinct
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MAORI SETTLEMENT - SEALORD CONNECTION
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"Cash settlement was used to buy Sealord"
"Maori will now receive twenty percent of commercial quota shares"
SEALORD:
- Now controls 38% of orange roughy quota
- Beneficiary of QMS consolidation
- Received Maori settlement funds
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KEY QUESTIONS
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- Who were the "economists" who designed the QMS?
- Who lobbied Colin Moyle to champion it?
- Which fishing companies supported the legislation?
- Who benefited from the "gaming" of the allocation process?
- How did the large companies acquire small operators' quota?
- Who were the brokers facilitating quota transfers?
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THE PATTERN
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1986: QMS introduced
- Quota allocated based on catch history
- System immediately gamed
- Small catches = massive allocations for some
1986-1990s: Consolidation
- "Extinction of owner-operator fishers"
- Large companies acquire quota
- Jenssen-type operations driven out
Today:
- Sealord (38%), Sanford (25%), Talleys (14%) control 77% of orange roughy
- Owner-operators largely extinct
- Quota concentrated in few hands
WHO BENEFITED?
- Large fishing companies
- Those who gamed the allocation
- Those who bought out distressed operators
- NOT the Jenssens
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SEALORD HISTORY - KEY FINDINGS
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Source: The Prow (Nelson regional history)
TIMELINE:
- 1965: New Zealand Sea Products Export Ltd. started
- 1967: First factory opened in Port Nelson
- 1967: Sea Harvester I and II trawlers arrived FROM TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
- 1968: Company went into RECEIVERSHIP
- 1968: Premises sold to a CONSORTIUM
- 1968: New company "Sealord Products Export Limited" formed
CRITICAL DETAIL:
The trawlers "Sea Harvester I and II" originated in TRONDHEIM, NORWAY.
The Jenssens were NORWEGIAN immigrants who arrived in the 1950s.
The Sealord trawlers came from NORWAY in 1967.
NORWEGIAN CONNECTION:
- Jenssen family: Norwegian immigrants, fishing in Napier
- Sealord trawlers: Built in Trondheim, Norway
- NZ Sea Products: Had Norwegian management ("my boss Per (a Norwegian)")
This suggests a NORWEGIAN FISHING NETWORK in New Zealand in the 1960s.
OWNERSHIP EVOLUTION:
- 1968: Consortium buys failed NZ Sea Products
- 1992: Sealord deal - Maori fisheries settlement
- Now: 50% Aotearoa Fisheries (Maori), 50% Nissui (Japanese)
WHO WAS IN THE 1968 CONSORTIUM?
This is a key question - who bought the failed company and built Sealord?
BRIERLEY CONNECTION (from earlier search):
"Brierley Investments, which owned the other half of Sealord..."
Brierley Investments was a major corporate raider in 1980s New Zealand.
They owned 50% of Sealord before the Maori settlement.
WHO SOLD TO BRIERLEY?
The 1968 consortium -> ? -> Brierley -> Maori/Nissui
This chain of ownership needs to be traced.