When it comes to putting on a show Hawke’s Bay knows when to turn it on, and they did that to the max on Labour Weekend. The sun shone on Hawke’s Bay Anniversary Day and into the long weekend enabling our LegaSea Hawke’s Bay crew to engage with the locals at the annual A & P show. The public are deeply concerned about the lack of fish in the Bay. People feel that years of trawling close to the shore has ruined any chances of an abundant fishery in the future.

A story relayed during the weekend was from a father who was eager to get his son off the couch. He asked his son if he wanted to go fishing. His son’s reply floored him – “There’s no point going dad, it’s boring ‘cause we don’t catch fish anymore”.

If young kids can see the destruction, why are our fisheries managers so blind?

Fundamental changes to the way our fisheries are managed are required if we are to realise our aspirations for rebuilding abundance in the Hawke’s Bay. The LegaSea Hawke’s Bay team has been striving for meaningful management changes since 2014. They have attended a stream of meetings and engaged in a range of processes yet they are still waiting for significant improvements. Now that Stuart Nash, their local MP, is the Minister of Fisheries they are hopeful for a speedier response to their calls for moving trawling out of the inshore zone so fish stocks can rebuild.

Momentum for change is building. Thanks goes to Profile Boats for supplying a display boat for the LegaSea stand at the A & P show. Our team appreciate the commitment of Mac boats and Evinrude, also Tom Forbes, owner of Hawke’s Bay Marine, who supplied two dinghies and outboards for the team to raffle at the show. Even in the current competitive market of boating, suppliers can see the value in working together to restore fish abundance. Thanks also to the generosity of ITM for providing the Sea Wall.

Due to the efforts of the LegaSea Hawke’s Bay crew people now have a channel to express their views and advocate for change. Kia kaha team.