This bill is needed to strengthen and modernise New Zealand's fisheries management system to create a more sustainable, higher-value operating model for fisheries and to better incentivise good commercial fishing practices. The fisheries management system overall has served New Zealand well. However, it is a product of its time and it reflects the science and technology that was available when it was developed in the 1980s and 1990s, and because of some of those constraints within the system, there are disincentives for better fishing practice, which can reduce the catch of unwanted fish. Current rules contribute to commercial fishers catching too much and then discarding too much, both in terms of less-valuable species and different-sized fish. This of course has an effect on the fishery, which has an effect on the economics as well as the sustainability of the resource. 