The new Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash has postponed the introduction of cameras on commercial fishing vessels.
Photo: 123RF
Commercial fishers were supposed to be using e-logbooks by April, and the rollout of cameras had been due to begin six months later.
However, Mr Nash said he wanted to address the industry's concerns about privacy and cost before that happened.
He said he could not say how long the postponement would be.
A report on cameras on fishing boats, dismissed by the Primary Industries Minister, was described as "robust and sound" by a top ministry science advisor.
A group of fishermen could be heading to court to fight a plan to use cameras and GPS trackers to monitor commercial trawlers. Audio
The Ministry for Primary Industries insists the cameras it is trialling on fishing boats will be used to prosecute illegal fishing.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has cut the number of fishery observers on snapper boats, at the same time as cameras in an electronic monitoring trial were failing.
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