March 20, 2023
Environmental, iwi and recreational fishing interests in the Hauraki Gulf are celebrating the Minister’s decision to close the Coromandel scallop fishery indefinitely. The Coromandel scallop fishery stretches from Leigh, Rodney in the north to Maketū in the Bay of Plenty. Ngāti Hei led the closure with a rāhui prohibiting the harvest of scallops on the […]
February 23, 2023
Kina, a shellfish known around the south as ‘spiky gold’, is still being dredged commercially in the Tory Channel. Recreational fishers and environmental interests are objecting to this archaic practice and are urging the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries to ban all dredging in the Tory Channel from April 2023. “It’s as if no lessons […]
December 14, 2022
Communities and fishers have welcomed Minister David Parker’s decision to use emergency powers to close the last two commercial scallop beds in New Zealand, in the Hauraki Gulf. The other scallop beds around Northland, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty, were closed earlier this year after a widespread community outcry at the disappearance of the […]
October 25, 2022
The Fisheries Amendment Bill passed into law today is welcome news to Kiwi fishers and environmental groups who are committed to restored abundance of our fisheries. “Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker is to be thanked for passing legislation that enables monitoring cameras aboard commercial fishing vessels and makes them land their catch instead of […]
September 29, 2022
The Government’s decision to drop controversial changes to fisheries legislation is welcome news to fishing and environmental groups concerned about threats to fish sustainability. Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker has announced he will progress the part of the Fisheries Amendment Bill that enables monitoring cameras aboard commercial fishing vessels from 1 November. But the […]
September 21, 2022
Proposed changes to the laws governing fisheries will remove the current protections for fish sustainability and affect fishing rights for more than 600,000 fishers. Currently, the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries has a statutory duty to manage fish stocks to a level that provides for future generations’ needs, and to consider public input. The Minister […]
August 25, 2022
The Kai Ika Project, a kaupapa which shares previously unwanted fish heads and frames with appreciative Auckland communities, is marking a major milestone this week. Since starting in 2016, the Kai Ika Project has now recovered and donated more than 250,000 kgs of kai moana via Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae and other distribution outlets. None of […]
June 14, 2022
Environmental, fishing and marine conservation groups have joined to fight clauses in the Fisheries Amendment Bill. While seemingly harmless, they in fact smuggle through major changes that aim to remove public and ministerial oversight from future fisheries decisions. Instead it enables bureaucrats working closely with industry players to maximise their commercial fishing returns. The […]
April 20, 2022
Media release April 20, 2022 Recreational fishers and marine conservationists are embracing revised bag limit rules for recreational fishers as a logical step toward sustainable fish populations. Under the revised rules, all finfish, except baitfish, including those with species limits like snapper, are now included in the daily recreational bag limit. This is a step […]
March 9, 2022
Environmentalists and recreational fishing groups today heralded the guilty verdict delivered to a Talley’s-owned bottom trawler, the Amaltal Apollo, and its skipper, for illegally bottom trawling on seamounts in international waters. The groups repeated their call for the government to ban the destructive fishing practice on seamounts , and to refuse to issue high seas […]