About Public Registers

What They Are

Aotearoa New Zealand’s Quota Management System (QMS) was set up in 1986 to limit the total commercial catch from each major fishery while providing incentives to maximise present and future values of harvesting rights.

Substantial changes were made to the way the QMS worked in 1996 through the Fisheries Act to support both the provision of quota for Maori and to create a percentage share arrangement to allocate quota. This system requires accurate management of individual rights and hence public registers were created.

The Fisheries Act 1996 specifies what information must be kept in public registers and Fishserve manages these registers for the Crown, including making the information available to the public.

Public information includes information about quota, Annual Catch Entitlement (ACE), fishing permits (including high seas), fishing vessels and fish farms (aquaculture). The Fisheries (Registers) Regulations 2001 provides detail of what information is held in the Registers.

To make it easier to access this information, Fishserve provides three different options.

1. You can view individual fishing permit and vessel information in our Find tools - this is a free service.

2. We have a series of online reports that contain the most frequently requested data from the Registers. These are available to download for a fixed charge. Fees for the online reports are listed here.

3. All other registry information not included in the online reports can be requested through the Fishserve Client Support Team. Fee's for this service are quoted on request.

We have put together some information to help you navigate the registry information and reports including explaining the codes used to identify different fish stocks and how fishing years work.