Meeting Notes: North Island-South East Regional Recreational Forum Sunday 16 September 2007, Gisborne

Open Meeting

Meeting chair, Andy Warmbrunn (MFish) opened the meeting and welcomed members. Andy welcomed Neville Buckley to the forum.

Attendees

Andy Warmbrunn (Chair-MFish)

Edward Beetham (Wairarapa Sports Fishing Club)

Wayne Bicknell (Hawkes Bay Sports Fishing Club)

Neville Buckley (MFish)

Paul Creswell (MFish)

Jenny Hills (Mahia Boating Club)

Alain Jorion (Gisborne/Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club)

Simon Mills (Gisborne/Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club)

Leigh Mitchell (MFish)

Colin Murray (Hawkes Bay Sports Fishing Club)

Hilton Webb (Gisborne/Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club)

George Zander (Ngawi Sport Fishing Club)

Apologies

James Parahi (Pania Surfcasting Club)

Meeting Introduction

Andy confirmed the main agenda items. These were for forum members to meet with the Acting District Compliance Manager for the East Coast Compliance Team and the national regional recreational forum meeting.

Other items on the agenda included charter boats, marine protected area policy, CRA 4 fishery, and deemed value review.

Regional Updates

Members provided updates on recreational fishing within their respective areas.

MFish Updates -Napier Compliance

Andy informed the forum that the Napier Fisheries Compliance Team intends to erect new fisheries information signs at Ngawi by Christmas. These signs would display information about local recreational fishing rules.

Neville Buckley informed the forum that he is the Acting District Compliance Manager of the newly formed East Coast Compliance Team. This team was formed in May and extends between Whakatane and Mahia. The team presently has 6 Fishery Officers based in Gisborne and 2 Fishery Officers based in Opotiki. The team has a two patrol vessels (one based at each office). He noted that MFish is currently advertising to permanently fill the District Compliance Manager position, which is expected to be completed by the end of November.

Neville gave members copies of the East Coast Compliance Plan, Compliance Strategic Direction, and Customary Compliance Plan documents. He briefly summarised each document.

He noted there was a significant black-market for paua and rock lobster within the region. He highlighted there had recently been a number of prosecutions with significant penalties imposed by courts including a ban from all fishing for a 3-year period, and vehicle and vessel forfeitures. He said that his team was working closely with the local community to improve overall compliance with the fishing rules.

Neville highlighted to members that it is important for the local community to contact MFish if people become aware of any illegal fishing practices. He stressed that all information would be kept confidential. He noted that people should ring 0800 4 POACHER at anytime if they had any information. Hilton Webb said that clubs should inform their members of this number through their newsletters.

Alain Jorion raised concerns about the use of customary permits to take rock lobster on commercial fishing vessels. Neville acknowledged there were some issues about the use of customary permits and was working with several kaitiaki to resolve issues in some areas. He highlighted that there were compliance problems across all sectors.

Simon Mills believed that drug dependency was one of the main reasons behind much of the local illegal fishing problems. Alain said that much of the illegal take in the rock lobster fisheries could be addressed through telson clipping by non-commercial fishers. Other local compliance issues raised included non-payment of fines, problems with deregistration of commercial fishing vessels, and the use of customary fishing permits of fishing vessels.

Neville provided each member with a compliance information pack that included various amateur fishing pamphlets and rulers. He noted that he was happy to arrange for more of these packs to be sent to fishing clubs. Neville also demonstrated the correct way to measure rock lobster using the plastic measuring device provided in the information pack.

National Recreational Forum Meeting

Andy informed the forum that MFish will hold a national meeting of the seven regional recreational fishing forums. This meeting will be held between 17-30 November either in Napier or Wellington. The East Coast Inshore Team will be responsible for organising this meeting.

Two representatives from each of the seven regional forums will attend the meeting (total of 14 reps). MFish will cover all travel and accommodation costs.

The forum elected Edward Beetham and Colin Murray to attend, with George Zander as a back up.

Andy asked members to identify possible issues for discussion at the national meeting. The follow issues were identified (voted in order of order of importance):

· Managing over catch (8 votes)

· Sustainable management of charter boat operations (6 votes)

· Preparing for Marine Protected Area processes (3 votes)

· Rock lobster telson clipping (2 votes)

· Estimating recreational catch (2 votes)

· Bycatch in scampi (2 votes)

· Next steps in shared fisheries (likely to be an MFish discussion item)

Andy noted that the other forums would also be asked to identify fisheries issues for the national meeting.

The forum agreed to hold their next meeting 2-3 weeks in advance of the national meeting to consider its view’s on the agreed agenda items.

Action: 1) Next forum meeting to be held 2-3 weeks before the national forum meeting to discuss the agenda items.

Charter Boats

George provided the forum with a handout outlining the Ngawi Sports Fishing Club’s concerns about local charter boats and over fishing. The forum agreed to consider this issue at the next forum meeting.

Action: 2) Next forum to discuss charter boat issues.

Marine Protected Areas Policy

Leigh provided the forum a brief overview of the MPA policy and noted that the proposed habitat classification system and protection standards were currently out for consultation. Leigh noted the intent of the policy was to involve the community in decision making about protection of marine habitats. This policy would enable government to consider protection initiatives in a proactive way, rather than respond to applications as currently occurs.

Leigh noted that it will be at least another three years before the MPA Policy was implemented for the ECNI.

Deemed Value Review

Andy advised the forum that the Minister will shortly make decisions on proposed changes to deemed values for several local inshore stocks. He noted that the forum would be advised of these decisions.

CRA 4 Catch Information

Andy provided the forum with a summary of past and current commercial catches from the CRA 4 fishery.

General Business

CRA 3 Fishery

Alain read out a prepared statement outlining recreational concerns about the CRA3 fishing forum process. He stated that the recreational representatives had decided to withdraw from the process and seek a dispute resolution process instead.

Hilton also informed the group that he has decided to withdraw from the process.

Leigh expressed disappointment of Alain’s and Hilton’s decision to withdraw. She noted that the group was following an agreed process and timeline and its participants are discussing the tools needed to meet objectives for the CRA3 fishery. She encouraged both to remain part of the group

Local mätaitai reserve applications

Edward stated that he understood there were two mätaitai reserve applications for the Wairarapa coast, and if approved, each would have big implications for the local paua and rock lobster fisheries.

Leigh informed the forum that MFish had yet to receive any mätaitai reserve application for the Wairarapa. She will notify the forum if an application is forthcoming.

The meeting ended with Alain thanking Paul for his valuable contribution to the forum over the past 18 months. Paul will no longer be involved with the forum as it will now be managed by the East Coast Inshore Team (Paul is based in Nelson and will continue to co-ordinate the NI-SW Regional Recreational Forum).

Paul thanked all members for their assistance and commitment to the forum. He encouraged members to keep working with the forum as it will continue to provide an ideal platform to represent recreational fishing interests on the ECNI.

Next meeting

The following agenda items are to be carried to the next forum meeting:

· Discussion of agenda items in advance of the national recreational forum meeting.

· Local charter boat issues

Closing

Meeting closed at 3.15pm