Jones said he’s ruled it out for the next two-and-a-half years while he’s in office.
“When Rangi or Ron hop in their boat and goes and gets some kaimoana and some tucker, they’re not going to be expected to fill in a form akin to an IRD form.”
However, he has asked officials to investigate options for improving data from charter vessels.
“I do think there’s a live issue on how much fish the very big charter boats are taking,” Jones told Newshub.
Charter boat skippers are already required to report their catch.
The minister also said he’s looking at whether more fish species should be added to those already reported by charter boats – for example, adding species like bluenose and hāpuku to the list that must be reported when caught in the Far North.
But he’s also investigating whether charter skippers should have to report their catch electronically.
Charter skipper Darell Digges said filling out paper catch returns and posting them to officials in Wellington is archaic and he welcomes the idea of introducing an app.
“It is pretty old school, you know, trying to do it on paper and use paper-based models. I would say an app would be a lot easier,” Digges told Newshub.
Charter fisher Bryan Connell agrees that the paper system is problematic, but said there are bigger issues the minister should focus on – like the current caulerpa crisis.
“We’ve got a biosecurity problem, we’ve got a clean water situation from downtown Auckland right up to Whangaparāoa,” Connell told Newshub.
He thinks the commercial industry’s push for better recreational reporting is a distraction.
“We have something like 50 square metres and 10 to 20 rods fishing. It’s not like we have 5000 hooks or a net that will catch 30 tonnes.”
Despite the minister’s emphatic dismissal of forcing the public to report their catch – the commercial industry told Newshub it still wants to meet with him to talk about it.