Ministry of Fisheries

Ministry of Fisheries

Context

The Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) was established as a stand-alone agency in 1995. MFish's primary purpose is to ensure that New Zealand fisheries are sustainably used within a healthy aquatic ecosystem.

MFish's role is focused on policy, planning, monitoring and enforcement activities. MFish maintains a wide range of external relationships with other government agencies, Treaty partners, service providers and stakeholders groups. The operational outsourcing of the quota management system in 2002 has reduced MFish's need for regular management contact with commercial stakeholders.

Ministry of Fisheries E-government Initiatives

• Internal system integration
• NABIS

Summary

Ready Access: MFish provides ready access to its information, but improvements to the corporate website would enable people to find information more easily.

Alignment: MFish makes effective use of the Internet to provide information about the Ministry. Information sharing policies and data standards have been developed within the fisheries sector to enable sharing of information.

Internet and Communications Technology

The fishing sector is a major user of information technology. The Internet is already used by commercial businesses to manage fishing quotas; and by the public, recreational fishers, local government, international organisations and central government agencies to obtain information. MFish has several websites that provide tailored information for various audiences.

MFish's electronic information sharing with other agencies, businesses and organisations within the sector is mainly reliant on emails and material contained on hard media (CD ROMs), rather than more automated networks. CD ROMs are used to share large data files or commercially sensitive data. Although automated information sharing networks are not widely used, MFish has developed consistent information sharing policies, data standards and common identifiers to help integrated information. Common identifiers include fish stocks, fisheries and vessels numbers.

One of MFish's automated information sharing networks is with FishServe, which is the commercial business that manages the operational aspects of the Quota Management System.

MFish is developing new initiatives to integrate information using the Internet. For example, the National Aquatic Biodiversity Information System (NABIS) will integrate information from a number of databases to provide online access to comprehensive marine biodiversity information. NABIS is a New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy programme devised by MFish.

MFish has identified a number of challenges to its adoption of information technologies. For example, the Ministry has concerns regarding liability issues regarding OIA requests for programming code. The Ministry is investigating the implications of a company finding errors in the code and the potential liabilities for the Ministry.

The litigious nature of the sector invites extra caution regarding information storage, access, and system security. In particular, maintaining the integrity of prosecution evidence is vital.

Internally, MFish intends to make greater use of the Internet to improve staff access to information. MFish has an intranet called 'Rockpool', that provides information for staff throughout New Zealand. At present, the intranet is centrally managed in Wellington.

Ready Access to Information and Services

Metadata

MFish has 69 metadata records. These include 28 services and 40 documents, as well as an agency record. Fisheries metadata is clearly written clearly to suit the public's needs.

The Ministry has opportunities to create additional metadata to cover more areas of the website content. Several existing offline records could be made online in future.

Website Assessment

Websites assessed during May 2004 included:

www.fish.govt.nz
www.starfish.govt.nz
www.rosssea2004.govt.nz

Overall, there is room for improvement in MFish's websites, especially the main site.

The strengths of the sites are in accessibility and information delivery on the Starfish and Ross Sea sites. However, the usability of the sites could be improved and some required government content added.

Key quality issues noted during the assessment included:

• Good range, depth and presentation of information and services content.
• Usability and site navigation could be improved for easier use.
• Missing website policies means people are unsure about feedback, privacy and complaints.
• Some required email addresses are missing or were not answered during the assessment.
• Missing accessibility features, such as navigation skipping, access keys and style sheet problems may impede some physically impaired people's access.
• Many broken links prevent people from accessing some content.
• More links to other related content would be useful.
• Contact details could be more specific to enable responsive handling of enquiries.

Alignment With E-government Goals

Convenience and Satisfaction

MFish uses the Internet extensively to provide information to stakeholders and the public.

The main website is used to provide information to a range of stakeholders, interest groups, government agencies and the public. A separate website called 'Starfish' provides information for teachers and school students.

Some forms are available that can be downloaded, completed and returned to MFish.

Integration and Efficiency

Within the sector, polices and data standards have been developed to enable better information sharing. Information standards are necessary because of the range of government agencies that MFish shares information with, and because of the contracted and devolved services that MFish has with commercial businesses in the fishing industry.

MFish contributes information to other websites, such as the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy site. However, information on the MFish website is not integrated with information from other government agencies. This can make it difficult for people to determine what other government agencies they should contact for additional information.

Participation

Policy documents, rule changes, and specific consultation documents are available, but they are not always easy to find. MFish is making changes to its websites to improve access to this information and to make details on how to provide feedback or participate clearer.