When you make decisions about using fisheries resources, you must consider some important principles. You should base your decisions on the best information available. You must think about how sure or unsure the information is when making decisions. You need to be careful when the information is not certain, reliable, or complete. If some information is missing or unsure, you cannot use that as a reason to delay or not take action to follow the purpose of the Act. You must still try to make the best decision you can with the information you have.

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This page was last updated on 12 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM395395.

Topics:

Environment and resources > Farming and fishing

9: Environmental principles, or

"Protecting the environment when making fishing decisions"

11: Sustainability measures, or

"Rules to protect fish and the ocean"

Part 2Purpose and principles

10Information principles

All persons exercising or performing functions, duties, or powers under this Act, in relation to the utilisation of fisheries resources or ensuring sustainability, shall take into account the following information principles:
decisions should be based on the best available information:
decision makers should consider any uncertainty in the information available in any case:
decision makers should be cautious when information is uncertain, unreliable, or inadequate:
the absence of, or any uncertainty in, any information should not be used as a reason for postponing or failing to take any measure to achieve the purpose of this Act.