Media releases

Cameras on boats. Is it just another election promise?

September 9, 2020 The process to get monitoring cameras on board commercial fishing vessels is a debacle according to public awareness group LegaSea. The reality, it’s another promise made weeks before an election that won’t be initiated until after the following election cycle. “Cameras on board fishing vessels have been promised by fisheries Ministers since 2014, and last […]

NZ Underwater signs MoU with LegaSea

July 14, 2020 Public support is swelling for reforms to fisheries management. The New Zealand Underwater Association (NZUA) being the latest organisation to join the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and LegaSea in their efforts to create abundance in our coastal fisheries. Together these groups are seeking an overhaul to the existing fisheries management policy which begins by scrapping the Quota Management […]

Launching Rescue Fish

May 28, 2020 Media release 28 May 2020 Plan released to restore fish stocks and revitalise New Zealand’s commercial fishing sector Sweeping changes proposed to fisheries policy to benefit future generations and pump much needed cash into the regions Restoring abundance to New Zealand’s coastal fisheries and stimulating regional economies are two objectives of the ‘Rescue Fish’ policy […]

New Zealanders deeply suspect fishing industry donations will influence MPs’ decisions

February 26, 2020 A huge majority of New Zealanders think fishing industry donations to Members of Parliament at the last election have the potential to “strongly influence” decisions the MPs make according to a poll conducted by Horizon Research. The poll, which asked more than 1,000 people how much they felt donations by companies with large fishing investments […]

Most New Zealanders think it’s illegal

October 31, 2019 Bottom trawling is an indiscriminate fish harvesting process, capturing all in its path and scraping vital marine growth off the seabed. The damage is unseen as it’s underwater and out of sight. The environmental impacts from the agricultural sector is attracting increasing attention and public concern about the damage caused by some commercial fishing methods […]

Kiwis want tarakihi fishing quota cut significantly amid major concern over fisheries management

October 17, 2019 Seventy percent of New Zealanders want the commercial fishing quota for tarakihi cut dramatically to help the country’s fish and chips favourite to recover, a new survey has revealed. The survey conducted by Horizon Research for LegaSea, a not-for-profit organisation raising awareness of issues affecting the marine environment, found 70% want a cut of between […]

Fish n chip favourite in danger

September 27, 2019 A ten per cent cut to commercial catch limits of tarakihi will not be enough to save the species from its depleted state, says LegaSea. On September 27th the Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash announced his management plan to restore the East Coast tarakihi fishery by applying a ten per cent cut to commercial catch limits […]

The madness of trying to manage fisheries with property rights

July 18, 2019 The Quota Management System has short-changed fish, mana whenua and the public since it was established in 1986. The system was set up with the quota owners having to pay resource rentals. This only lasted a few years. For the past 30 years the commercial fishing industry has not paid for the use of these […]

Joint effort to save “kauri forests of our ocean”

May 15, 2019 New Zealand’s leading environmental organisations have today joined with recreational fishers to call on the Government to ban bottom trawling on seamounts. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), ECO, Forest and Bird, Greenpeace, LegaSea and WWF-New Zealand are urging the public to sign a petition to the Minister of Fisheries, Stuart Nash, and the Minister […]

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 […]