Latest updates


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, […]

The emptiness of purse seining

November 10, 2018 Mentioning purse seining and depleted bait schools in the same sentence instantly raises the heckles of many fishers. There could be some good news on the horizon. Recently the Cook Island’s Court of Appeal upheld a challenge by locals to the way the Cook’s government permits purse seining in their waters. The Court said the […]

Kai Ika project a runaway success

October 26, 2018 When two worlds collide the results can be catastrophic, when it comes to the Kai Ika project it is an outright success. In just two years over 19,000 kilos of fish parts that were previously wasted have been rescued and shared with needy families in South Auckland. Kai Ika is so successful that LegaSea and […]

Shelving not legitimate management

October 15, 2018 As part of the recent tarakihi review corporate commercial interests supported the shelving of tarakihi catch in lieu of the Minister reducing the Total Allowable Commercial Catch. We submitted against the shelving proposal. It is pleasing to report that Stuart Nash has rejected the proposal and applied cuts to commercial catches in the stock spanning […]

Minister’s commitments signal change

September 30, 2018 A positive to come out of the latest round of stock reviews is the Minister’s commitment to change or revisit some long-standing practices that we have objected to for many years. These include truncated consultation timeframes, the inconsistency in setting aside allowances for fishing related mortality, and recognising that current fishing practices need to change. […]

Tarakihi decision staves off the inevitable

September 28, 2018 LegaSea is bitterly disappointed that Stuart Nash has ignored more than 9000 of us calling for decisive cuts to commercial catches of tarakihi on the east coast of New Zealand. From October 1st the Minister of Fisheries has applied a 20% cut to commercial catches, while LegaSea has been campaigning for a 65% reduction. LegaSea […]

International recognition of recreational surveys

September 27, 2018 New Zealand’s recreational harvest surveys have been internationally recognised as being high quality. Experts have agreed that the methods used are robust, producing reliable results suitable for use in management decisions. LegaSea is pleased the peer-reviewed science has now been published, leaving no excuses for anyone to be spreading the old adage that ‘we don’t […]

LegaSea is not ‘anti-commercial fishers’

September 26, 2018 LegaSea is and never has been anti-commercial fishers, we just want to reduce the environmental impacts of bulk harvesting so we can have a more sustainable fishing future. That means getting rid of trawling, seining and dredging from inshore waters so fish populations are free to reproduce and thrive in a healthy marine environment. It […]

Minister fails New Zealand’s fishery

September 26, 2018 The recreational advocacy group LegaSea is bitterly disappointed the Minister of Fisheries has deferred making decisive cuts to commercial catches of tarakihi on New Zealand’s east coast for at least another year. In October Stuart Nash will apply a 20% cut to the commercial catch, while LegaSea has been campaigning for a 65% reduction. LegaSea […]