October 14, 2024
Tripling the area where public fishing is excluded within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, while permitting Māori customary and commercial fishing is a gross insult to everyone who has worked hard to conserve fish over the past few decades, according to public fishing interests’ group LegaSea. “The last-minute change to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection […]
October 11, 2024
Coromandel locals are horrified that Fisheries New Zealand is currently dragging a destructive industrial dredge through the local scallop fishery that has been closed due to depletion since March 2023. “There has been overwhelming community support for the closure of the local Coromandel fishery because scallop numbers were the lowest we’d ever seen. After all […]
October 1, 2024
People with coastal properties can expect to see more trawlers operating offshore this summer. That’s because Shane Jones, the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, has just increased the catch limits for more than 12 different fish stocks between Northland and Foveaux Strait. “Excessive increases to the total allowable commercial catch for snapper, kingfish, Jack mackerel, […]
October 1, 2024
An increase in the commercial catch limit for west coast snapper could put Māui dolphin, seabirds and other fish species at risk, for very little gain. “The 640 tonne increase to the total allowable commercial catch comes with an unwanted side effect of increased trawling effort. For years we’ve been advocating for more longlining and […]
September 26, 2024
Originally published in the Kaikōura Star, September 2024. Controversial comments suggesting there is an unknown amount of pāua harvest by recreational fishers in Kaikōura can be easily refuted by three years of scientific reports. Fisheries New Zealand has contracted recreational harvest surveys every year since the Kaikōura pāua fishery opened to harvest after the 2016 […]
September 26, 2024
First published in The Adventurer, July 2024 This little fish went to a foreign fish market, this little fish was ground into cat food, and this little fish was fished all the way to the brink of collapse. A tragic ending is on the horizon for our humble baitfish. Concerning reports from fishers between Northland […]
August 28, 2024
Originally published in Mahurangi Matters, August 2024. Kina seem to be everywhere, but where’s everything else? Where have the big, old grandaddy snapper gone, and the clusters of crayfish that used to hang around? With crayfish and snapper missing in action kina have been left relatively unchecked in the natural environment, resulting in a population […]
June 27, 2024
LegaSea is stunned that Fisheries New Zealand is blaming the climate for snapper having “milky white flesh syndrome”. Their latest report skips over last year’s lab results that showed snapper were in a “state of chronic malnutrition”. That testing found that tissue breakdown in snapper was attributed to a “prolonged period of starvation”. So, why […]
May 30, 2024
Originally published in The Adventurer, May 2024. The soothing sounds of squawking seagulls and crashing waves are being drowned out by the roar of bottom trawlers along the Coromandel and Bay of Plenty coastline. This is where trawlers have sadly become a common sight to see from the comfort of your own beach. They often […]
April 27, 2024
It’s been two years since the last remaining scallop beds in the Hauraki Gulf were placed under emergency closure. While it may feel like a lifetime since we’ve had fresh, local scallops on our dinner plates, it still may not be enough time for our scallops to regenerate. So anyone anticipating a meal of plump […]
