Why hasn’t the Government accepted the dire state of fisheries and done something about it before?

It is convenient for the Government to believe that the Quota Management System is the best way of managing fisheries. Also, because the quota owners have formed a powerful lobby that stridently protects its monopoly market position. This lobby has its own scientists and experts who maintain that the QMS cannot be dismantled because the fishing rights bestowed by the QMS underpins the Treaty of Waitangi commercial fisheries settlement with Māori interests. The Government and officials shy away from any potential conflict with the Treaty settlement.