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Palaeontologists are turning to technology to preserve dinosaur fossils.

The Voyager 1 space probe was launched 40 years ago and continues to send back data from interstellar space.

Under the programme, based on schemes in Scandinavia, customers would pay a surcharge that would be reimbursed when they return to the shop

The Scottish government is planning to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.

Customers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop.

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Snapper is one of the fish under New Zealand's Quota Management system. from www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND

In popular imagination, New Zealand’s fisheries management system is a globally recognised story of sustainability, reflecting a “clean and green” environmental ethos.

Indeed, New Zealand’s fisheries have been ranked among the best managed in the world - an accolade based on the early and wholehearted adoption of a Quota Management System (QMS).

This perception is echoed in a recently published article, but we take issue with the methodology and its conclusions. Claims that New Zealand’s QMS is an unmitigated success simply do not match the facts.

How New Zealand’s QMS works Scallops are among the species managed by the QMS. from www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND

The fundamental idea behind the QMS is that fishers own (or lease) the right to catch a certain proportion (quota) of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of a certain species of fish. These quotas can be freely traded. Market forces are assumed to achieve economically optimal outcomes.

The TAC is set via an assessment process incorporating biological data and fisheries information, where available. The TAC is supposed to ensure sustainability.

New Zealand is committed to the most comprehensive QMS, more so than any other fishing nation. The system is a seductively straightforward solution to control commercial fishing effort.

Currently, TACs are set for more than 640 fish stocks, and represent around 620,000 tonnes of fish. But not all stocks undergo an empirical stock assessment.

Because proposals for downward change usually meet resistance from the fishing industry, changing a TAC requires a persuasive case. Most have not changed in response to either over catching or under catching (a consequence of budgetary constraints and political lobbying by powerful quota owners).

From a TAC, allowances are made for customary catch by Māori, recreational fishing and other mortality caused by fishing, for example through poaching. The remainder is the total allowable commercial catch (TACC), which is divided among the quota owners in the form of Annual Catch Entitlements (ACE).

Red snapper at Auckland’s fish market. from www.shutterstock.com, CC BY-ND Trading quota vs catching fish

When fishers do not have enough ACE to cover their catch, they must either buy more or pay a penalty to the government. Both quota and ACE can be bought, sold and leased. One of the unfortunate consequences of the QMS is that more money is made through trading ACE than actually catching the fish. Unsurprisingly, this empowers quota owners at the expense of fishers.

In our rebuttal to the original article, we point out that fish stocks are nowhere near as healthy as suggested. There is a lack of scientific data to correctly run the QMS. Three quarters of fish stocks have no formal or detailed assessment, and very few have independent research surveys.

Most assessments rely on industry self-reported catch and effort data, rather than independent surveys. This is a dangerous strategy, as shown by the collapse of the Canadian Newfoundland Cod stocks in 1992. At that time, fisheries managers chose to believe industry data showing increasing catch per unit effort, rather than scientific surveys suggesting precipitous decline.

Wider ecosystems effects ignored

Funding for stock assessments has significantly decreased; it is about 45% of the levels in the early 1990s while the number of fish stocks in the QMS has increased 3.5-fold.

The broader environmental effects of commercial fishing on biodiversity, endangered species, seafloor habitats and the very ecosystem that supports the fish on which fisheries depend, are becoming increasingly obvious. Even so, little research targets these impacts. New Zealand’s QMS is a data hungry beast and it is starving.

As with all markets, not all behaviours that are incentivised are virtuous. There is money to be made or saved by dumping catches for which ACE is unavailable or too expensive, from poaching and falsifying catch returns. These behaviours have seriously distorted New Zealand’s catch data for decades. This includes massive dumping of unwanted catch and under-reported bycatch, including endangered dolphins and sealions.

Read more: Things fall apart: why do the ecosystems we depend on collapse

Compounding this is the low level of onboard observer coverage (about 8.4% in offshore fisheries and less than 1% inshore) and the lack of effective enforcement. An independent review of New Zealand’s Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) handling of illegal fish and dolphin dumping revealed industry capture of the regulator, involving flawed processes and inappropriate conduct.

A senior MPI manager admitted that:

… discarding is a systemic failure of the current system and something we have not been able to get on top of from day 1 of the QMS.

Thus, the QMS is not just starved of data: what little data it gets is highly questionable. MPI itself, succinctly illustrates the situation in the below diagram.

Glenn Simmons, CC BY-ND

New Zealand’s fishers are firmly trapped in the cycle of non-reporting. The recent government decision to place electronic monitoring and CCTV cameras on every vessel indicates the gravity of the situation. This, however, does nothing to remove the perverse incentives inherent in the QMS itself.

Comprehensive review needed

The QMS has undermined jobs and livelihoods - just five large companies own over 80% of quota, and 60% of the offshore catch is taken by foreign charter vessels (FCVs) under contract to New Zealand fishing companies. These FCVs arrive with foreign crew, denying employment to New Zealanders, and outsource value added processing to Asia.

For decades FCVs, have been associated with the inhumane treatment of migrant fishers working in slave-like conditions. Despite new laws, abusive treatment has continued.

Concentration of quota in the hands of a few has resulted in many disenfranchised fishers. There is a sense of hopelessness over their activities and alienation from the management of the resource they depend on. Tellingly, Iceland, a nation strongly associated with fishing, described ITQs as feudal, quota holders as lords of the seas and fishermen as serfs.

Just last month, the Faroese Islands’ fishing industry overwhelmingly rejected a quota management system. They had too many questions and too little evidence to support adoption of a QMS.

Ultimately, we need to lower the QMS from its undeserved pedestal, acknowledge its limitations and move forward through open and honest debate. We should also look beyond our own shores for ideas, as New Zealand is not the only country wrestling with these problems.

There are lessons to be learned from New Zealand’s QMS, and they are not all good. After 30 years, New Zealand’s fisheries management needs a comprehensive review.

We acknowledge the contribution of Philip Clarke, a former forensic scientist and fisheries compliance investigator for the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries.

Steve Dawson's research has had funding from DOC and MPI, but not on projects directly related to fisheries.

(David) Hugh Whittaker, Bruce Robertson, Elisabeth Slooten, Fiona McCormack, Glenn Simmons, Graeme Bremner, Nigel Haworth, and Simon Francis Thrush do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

The proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities, writes Molly Scott Cato MEP

The proposal to open up the Renca reserve in the Amazon for exploitation by large mining companies would be catastrophic for the earth’s climate, for biodiversity and for local indigenous communities. At the same time, the European Union is negotiating a new trade agreement with Mercosur, the Latin America regional trade bloc, of which Brazil currently holds the presidency. This is a vital opportunity for the EU to use our trade muscle to make clear that the Amazon is not for sale and that minerals extracted from a protected reserve will never find their way onto European markets.

World Trade Organisation rules also make clear that trading parties have a legitimate right to ban imports if it is “necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health”. I have written to trade commissioner Malmström stating my clear view that the Renca reserve is necessary to protect human life and demanding that she excludes its products from the free trade deal. I will be urging my MEP colleagues to vote against the deal if it does not include this guarantee.
Molly Scott Cato MEP
Green, South West England

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Around 200 members of family and colleagues attended a memorial for Stephen Tindale.

A selection of the day’s best images including demonstrating Ronald McDonalds in London, high dives in Texas and a beer holding world record in Germany

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Helicopter crew rescue two children and their mother from their flooded home in Houston after tropical storm Harvey caused devastating flooding last week. The storm, one of the costliest to hit the US, has displaced more than 1 million people, resulted in at least 44 deaths and damaged 185,000 homes in Houston alone

• Drone footage shows flooding in Houston, Texas – video
• Harvey recovery bill expected to exceed the $120bn required after Katrina

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As the seasons begin to change in most places, we would like to see and hear about the wildlife you’ve discovered in your area

Wherever you are in the world and however professional or amateur your photography set up, we would like to see your images of the wildlife living near you.

If you’re short of inspiration, have a look at some of the amazing images shared by readers around the world last month via GuardianWitness here. We regularly print readers’ best images in the Guardian newspaper and will let you know if your image should feature.

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To achieve climate agreement’s limit of 2C rise, pricing will have to increase to more than $100 a tonne, says Schroders

More than $1.5tn (£1.2tn) in company profits worldwide could be erased by taxes required to meet the Paris climate agreement, according to analysis by Schroders.

In a stark warning to investors to back more sustainable companies, the fund management group said total earnings of 12,500 global companies could fall by 20% were the world to limit itself to the 2C temperature rise target agreed in Paris through higher taxes. Schroders found prices in emissions trading would need to rise to “well over” $100 a tonne of CO2e from current levels, about $5, to encourage the move away from fossil fuels on the scale that was needed.

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A small community on the island of Sumatra is at the heart of a battle for traditional territories that could finally resolve the muddled and exploitative system of laws governing land ownership in Indonesia

It is cold and late on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Huddled around a map, a group of elders are planning their battle strategy. In a milestone victory last year, they were promised rights to the land their village has controlled for generations, but today they have had bad news. The local inspector wants to slice off a piece of the forest where they harvest benzoin – a substance like frankincense – and give it to a large pulp company. They see this as a betrayal.

The elders debate in a mix of languages – Batak and bahasa Indonesia – while sipping tea and planning how they will resume the fight the next day. For years now, almost every day has involved this kind of planning.

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No one will be surprised if AEMO projects a potential problem this summer in reports to be released this week.

PIAC’s Energy + Water Consumers Advocacy Program (EWCAP) has welcomed the NSW electricity bill relief package, announced yesterday

The key issue at moment around LGC prices remains the commissioning dates for new fleet of wind and solar generation.

Regulator report cites seven different occasions where Australia's big energy players used market power to push up prices nearly 100-fold. No wonder South Australia has pushed for Tesla big battery, which is likely to be able to smash this cartel, despite being derided by the Coalition.

With $50m in backing from Future Super, new debt fund taps renewable energy "sweet spot" – including small to medium solar projects with no PPAs.

AEMO report will be critical to design of policy and market rules, but wind and solar industry fear they are going to be unfairly penalised, when it is the fossil fuel fleet causing much risk to the energy system.

Ecclesall Wood, Sheffield A close-up look at these birds – which have evolved to be invisible in domains such as this – was proving elusive

A new noise stopped me dead in my tracks; a sort of pulse-quickening, primitive shriek, more banshee wail than bird call. Through the still-bare March treetops I saw the source of the sound barrel straight overhead – my first thrilling glimpse of sparrowhawk in this neck of Ecclesall Wood, near my home.

In the long light of a clear May evening came a second sighting, not far from the first; a revelatory 10 minutes of spectacular aerobatics in the full view of Ecclesall Road South, the bird’s fluidity of movement spellbinding.

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Defying the policy uncertainty that has held back utility-scale solar in Australia, much of the new renewables investment is happening in coal country.

Hydro Tasmania expects to run the Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) at the Tamar Valley Power Station Tuesday 5 September, 2017.