Articles

Summary of MPI Fisheries Change proposals

February 22, 2019 Senseless waste and dumping of commercial catch has been in the spotlight since 2013. Electronic monitoring of at-sea activity is underway but the rollout of onboard cameras to monitor fishing and discards has been stymied by fishing industry opposition. The latest proposals in MPI’s Fisheries Change Programme seeks to “simplify” the rules applying to commercial […]

When it comes to innovation talk is cheap

February 15, 2019 Talk is cheap. On the one hand we have fisheries managers and companies espousing value creation yet all we can see is the Quota Management System being used to benefit the supply chain while paralysing fisheries management and innovation. After 30 years of this QMS experiment we now realise quota control ought to have remained […]

Fake news is fiction

January 25, 2019 Fake news is fiction no matter how it is spun in print, online or via flash television adverts telling us how great the commercial fishing industry is at restraining themselves. At the same time, they are resisting cameras on boats because of privacy issues – yeah right. In contrast, when it comes to knowing what […]

Increasing calls to ban purse seining

January 20, 2019 There are growing calls to ban purse seining in our coastal waters. There have been numerous attempts to keep the seiners away from areas important to recreational fishers, to reduce conflict and protect forage species for seabirds and predatory fish. The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council has called on Fisheries New Zealand to better manage […]

Crayfish – the status quo is unacceptable

December 24, 2018 As we lurch our way into the silly season it is only natural that our thoughts turn to fishing and diving for the delicacies we have dreamt about all year. Crayfish is on the top of many people’s wish list, to say thanks to someone special, for sharing with the whanau or as a holiday […]

One little squeeze is all it takes

December 23, 2018 What are we talking about?  The amount of pressure or time it takes to crush the barb on your hook with a pair of pliers. In FishCare – The school of best practice LegaSea describes how one little squeeze with the pliers can have a profound effect on the success of your catch and release […]

Utilisation and conservation a winning combination

December 22, 2018 In just two years the Kai Ika project in Auckland has gone from being a simple exchange of food and cultures, to a full-on waste minimisation effort that has seen over 22,000 kilos of unwanted fish parts repurposed as nutritious kai and organic fertiliser. It is so successful that people and organisations from around Aotearoa […]

Showing off in the Bay

December 5, 2018 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 & […]

Conservation worth celebrating

December 2, 2018 It is not very often we get to celebrate good news in fisheries management but it’s worth popping the corks for this conservation initiative. In September the 34,000 strong New Zealand Sport Fishing Council announced it was promoting a voluntary reduction of the recreational crayfish bag limit in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty. […]

Celebrating 40 years of friendship

November 23, 2018 In cyberspace we can lay claim to as many virtual friends as we like, but you soon find out who your real friends are when you hit troubled waters. And so it was for recreational fishers back in mid-2000. In July that year the Minister of Fisheries delivered Soundings, a package of proposals that would, […]