Latest updates


Building LegaSea

July 30, 2014 “To rebuild our fishery we need qualified tradesmen” This sums up LegaSea’s new engagement campaign that is targeted at New Zealand’s construction industry. Statistics reveal that Kiwis involved in all aspects of construction whether in materials supply, plumbing, building, electrical, machinery and even design, love to fish. Fishing is as much the subject of conversation […]

Snapper 1 discussions

July 30, 2014 The multi-stakeholder Snapper 1 Strategy Group has had three meetings, with the fourth due in mid-June. Our recreational representatives are keen to get stuck into discussing the important issues of management targets to increase overall biomass in Area 1, but it is slow going. Increasing biomass means having a thriving population of more and bigger […]

Management not just about money

July 21, 2014 Recent Ministerial decisions for crayfish and southern scallops have proven how unbalanced our fisheries management regime has become, in favour of commercial interests. Setting unrealistic commercial catch limits just invites vigorous fishing effort for diminishing fish stocks. It also deprives us, as recreational fishers, the opportunity to enjoy a reasonable catch for a day’s effort. […]

Working together for marine ecosystems

July 1, 2014 It was good to see many of you at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show in Auckland. Sharing information and getting your feedback during the 4-day show made the team’s effort worthwhile. Your thoughts on our future plans are most welcome so please stay in touch. A big thanks to the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat […]

Targeting bigger fish and more of them

June 20, 2014 LegaSea is promoting a rebuild of our inshore fisheries, to a minimum target level of 40% of their virgin biomass, or unfished stock size. That’s B40. B40 means more fish get to grow to a decent size. B40 also means our fisheries will be more robust and able to cope with any dramatic events, like […]

Shameful crayfish management

May 15, 2014 Time has once again been used as a weapon against us, this time to limit our response to outrageous proposals that will keep Bay of Plenty crayfish stocks at all-time low levels. By now the new regime will be in place and our northeastern cray fishery could be another casualty in the race to the […]

Snapper talks shaping up

April 4, 2014 Snapper lovers will be pleased to know the planned strategy group discussions are underway, with all sectors getting a say in how they want to have the northern fishery managed in the future. Our objectives have been shaped around the many thousands of submissions made during last year’s SOS – Save Our Snapper campaign. LegaSea […]

Unfair snapper rules take effect

March 28, 2014 Recreational fishing advocacy group LegaSea is calling on amateur fishers to comply with the new snapper bag and size limits that will come into effect on April Fool’s day, even though many believe they are unfair. From April 1st the individual snapper daily bag limit will be seven, down from nine each. The minimum legal […]

Minister keeps crayfish at all-time lows

March 20, 2014 For young and old crayfish are a taonga, a treasure, so recent Ministerial decisions to keep some stocks at all-time lows to meet export orders is abysmal. Nathan Guy announced his decisions for the future management of crayfish on March 20th and these will apply from April 1st. Crayfish can retail up to $150 per […]

Crayfish and snapper update

March 10, 2014 In last months column, we talked about changes to crayfish coming our way. In early December 2013 the Ministry for Primary Industries advised us of potential management changes in CRA 2 (Bay of Plenty and Hauraki Gulf) and CRA 9 (West Coast). Consultation documents were due out before Christmas. Quota increases were likely to be […]