Recreational regulations review decisions Paul outlined the Minister of Fisheries’ recent decisions on the review of several recreational fishing proposals. These proposals were raised by the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council. Paul noted the forum discussed each proposal at the last meeting and their position on the various proposals were included as part of MFish’s final advice to the Minister. He noted the Minister’s decisions were consistent with the forum’s views. Paul highlighted that decisions will not become effective until at least April 2007. Paul summarised the Minister’s decisions as follows:
Change to recreational scallop season Minister has agreed to amend the timing of the recreational scallop fishery between North Cape and Cape Runaway between 1 Sept and 31 March. All other scallop remain unchanged. Simon requested more information about the timing of the change to the scallop season. Note: The change to the North Cape and Cape Runaway recreational scallop season will commence on 1 September 2007
Size limits for red gurnard, blue cod, and trumpeter Minister has agreed to set a national 25 cm MLS for red gurnard and 35 cm MLS from trumpeter. Minister has agreed to reduce the MLS from 33 cm to 30 cm for the northern North Island blue cod (BCO 1) fishery. All other blue cod fisheries remain unchanged. Amendment to regulation 19A of the amateur fishing regulations Minister has agreed to correct the offences regime that applies under r 19A. Recreational issues related to taking bag limits Minister has confirmed that undersize fish will not count towards the amateur daily bag limit if released immediately. Minister has agreed that fish at, or above, the MLS do not count against the amateur daily bag limit if the fish are released to the sea immediately and are likely to survive. This will also allow fishers to release fish caught for research purposes (ie, tag and release programmes) without being counted against the daily bag limit.
Rock lobster telson clipping Alain provided the forum with an update on NZRFC’s proposal to require all non-commercial fishers to telson clip rock lobster. He noted there was good local support for this initiative including the CRA 3 User Group. Edward noted the Wairarapa Sports fishing Club was supportive of this proposal and club members had already began to telson clip their rock lobster catches. He noted that clipping the middle telson fan would be problematic for packhorse lobster given the MLS applies to tail ‘length’ (ie, the distance between the rear of the calcified bar on the first segment to the tip of the middle fan). He suggested it would be more appropriate to require fishers to clip the outer corner fan (see below).
Motion:
The NI-SE Recreational Forum supports the clipping of the corner telson fan instead of the central fan Moved: Edward Beetham/Motion passed unanimously Alain noted the NZRFC was keen for local CRA 3 fishers to progress the initiative as it would assist to address a big local compliance problem. He noted the NZRFC was currently considering the available options on how best to progress their proposal next year. Paul outlined MFish’s concerns when rock lobster telson clipping was first discussed several years ago as a way of reducing illegal fishing. He acknowledged the efforts by Alain to progress telson clipping within the local fishery. Scampi bycatch issues Paul noted that Colin had asked for information at the last meeting on the size range of scampi within commercial catches. He noted the industry do record scampi catches to specific size gradings, but does not make this information available to MFish. Therefore, he was unable to provide Colin with the requested information. Paul stated he is able to provide Colin with scampi size distribution information from catches taken by research vessels. This would provide an indication on the size distribution of scampi within the SCI 2 fishery. Recreational fishing catch forms Wayne and Colin advised the forum that the Hawkes Bay Sports Fishing Club had begun to record catch information from their members during club competitions. This information records the number of fishers that enter the competition and the number of fish caught (including species of fish, and number of retained and released fish). This information would be collated over time to provide a picture of the state of local fisheries. |