Public management in New Zealand and its effect on institutional arrangements for managing fisheries

Abstract

Abstract In the last few decades Western democracies, predominately those of British origin, have debated vigorously about how to improve public management performance. These debates have created an influx of new ideas and initiatives regarding the concept and practise of public management. New Zealand implemented public management reform further and faster than most other nations. At the same time, New Zealand implemented sweeping reforms to the management of fisheries, which led to the quota management system based on the allocation of individual transferable quota. This article briefly outlines the history of changes in New Zealand's public management system and the effect these changes have had on institutional arrangements for managing fisheries. Each institutional arrangement has been devised to accommodate the priorities and policies of the government of the day, spanning the Marine Department established in 1866 to recent structural changes made to the Ministry of Fisheries. The recent structural changes have placed greater emphasis on governance to improve performance, but have also led to substantial losses of in-house experience and institutional knowledge. This article contributes to the broader discussion about whether structural changes provide measureable benefits or the most cost effective way to deliver improvements in performance.