Articles

What next for recreational fishing of tarakihi?

July 26, 2018 This article was written prior to the submission being completed and sent to Fisheries New Zealand. To see the current discussion on changes to recreational daily bag limits please read the submission in full here. Without exception, recreational fishers attending meetings with LegaSea have strongly supported conserving fish for future generations. Tarakihi management is currently […]

Unmasking a reluctant Ministry

July 6, 2018 Stuart Nash, Minister of Fisheries In just one week 48 separate items of news appeared in the media pointing to leaked reports identifying mass fish dumping, years of non-compliance, blatant under-reporting of thousands of tonnes of New Zealand fish and MPI senior officials turning a blind eye. How much more can we and our fisheries […]

FishCare – Lure techniques

June 29, 2018 Employing the right techniques in how we fish is the first step to reducing our impact on our fishery and the marine environment. All users of the resource, commercial, recreational and customary must fish in a responsible manner. The purpose of selective techniques is to avoid catching fish you don’t want e.g. undersized specimens. This […]

Action needed on tarakihi stocks

June 28, 2018 It is a common refrain from many of the older recreational fishers we meet, “Fish stocks are not what they used to be”. This year large cuts to tarakihi catch will be proposed for the whole east coast of the North and South Islands. It has taken several years for a stock assessment to be […]

Government must act on Primary Industry inaction

June 28, 2018 After years of Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) inaction over fishing regulation breaches, over-fishing, fish dumping and more, now it appears MPI has been asleep at the wheel on land as well. News this morning of yet another appalling breach of animal rights show the terrible state some of the nation’s animals are kept in, […]

Who will catch Southern Bluefin tuna?

June 27, 2018 In early May the Minister, Stuart Nash, announced an in-season increase to the Southern Bluefin tuna recreational allowance of 12 tonnes and an increase in the commercial annual catch entitlement (ACE) of 76 tonnes. A fresh decision on changing the Total Allowable Catch will need to be made before October. In the meantime, LegaSea and […]

Time runs out for QMS

June 12, 2018 The industry’s unwillingness to take observers on board fishing vessels is just the latest in a long line of examples of commercial fishers operating in bad faith and flouting the laws as if they own New Zealand’s fisheries. Forest and Bird has obtained information under the Official Information Act and say the refusals to take […]

Boat show success

June 6, 2018 The recent Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat show in Auckland was our most successful yet and LegaSea is grateful to the organisers and Dave Gibbs in particular for his, and their ongoing generosity. LegaSea simply couldn’t afford to be at the show in such a fulsome manner without their support. If you were one of the […]

No crayfish closure

May 26, 2018 Stuart Nash, Minister of Fisheries, has decided not to close the crayfish fishery between the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty, known as the CRA 2 region. Instead, annual catch limits for commercial and recreational fishers were reduced as of April 1st. The new Total Allowable Commercial Catch has been reduced from 200 to 80 […]

What more proof is needed before government acts?

May 24, 2018 We’ve seen the Heron Report on failures in our fishing industry, the Achilles and Hippocamp reports paint a devastating picture of the Ministry of Primary Industries working hand in glove with industry to avoid accountability, more recently we’ve seen the decimation of our crayfish stocks and now we’re told MPI and industry have been fudging […]