Meeting Notes: North Island-South East Regional Recreational Forum Sunday 2nd November 2008, Mahia

Attendees

Billy Brough (Chair - MFish)
Edward Beetham ( Wairarapa Sports Fishing Club)
Colin Murray ( Hawkes Bay Sports Fishing Club)
James Parahi ( Pania Surfcasting Club)
Jenny Hills (Mahia Boating Club)
George Zander ( Ngawi Sport Fishing Club)
Neville Buckley (MFish - Compliance)

Apologies

Alain Jorion (Gisborne/Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club)
Hilton Webb (Gisborne/Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club)

Meeting Introduction

Item 1

Apologies were received from Hilton Webb and Alain Jorion.

Billy noted Alain and Hilton had requested a change to the minutes from the previous meeting on the 31 st of August. Alain and Hilton requested the word ‘reasonable' be deleted from the regional updates item. After some discussion the forum agreed to replace the word ‘reasonable' with ‘average' in the previous minutes

Agreed Actions

• Billy to update the minutes of the August 2008 meeting by replacing the word ‘reasonable' with ‘average' in the previous minutes

Item 2

The forum worked through the agreed action items from the previous meeting on the 31 st of August. Ten action items were completed, and two action items were not completed. Billy suggested the two incomplete actions should be added to the actions items for this meeting.

The forum members agreed to add the two incomplete actions as agreed action items from the 2nd of November meeting.

Agreed Actions

• Craig Petherick (MFish - Compliance) to send Ed an email with HFO names in the Wairarapa area
• Billy to update the forum members via email on the status of the draft paua accumulation discussion paper

Item 3

Regional Update

Forum members submitted written regional updates to Billy, and provided the forum with a verbal overview of fishing from their respective areas.

Surfcasting update – James

James noted the Pania surfcasters had two competition days, involving 30 rods. 88 kahawai, 15 snapper and a few gurnard were landed from a variety of surfcasting locations. James believed the fishing was not too bad, and added he had been stopped by a fishery officer on Ocean Beach (his first time).

Ngawi area update – George

George said the sea conditions had been very rough in the past few months, and two months worth of club days, had been cancelled as a result. He noted catches of legal sized rock lobster continued to be poor. Although tarakihi were able to be caught, the fish appeared to be in poor condition (George wondered if these were post-spawn fish). Fishing for bluenose and blue cod was good. George noted the Ngawi club were still drafting a submission on the current Ngati Hinewaka mätaitai reserve application. He also expressed ongoing concern about the increasing seal population in the area.

Wairarapa area update – Ed

Ed reiterated George's comments about the poor weather. He commented rock lobster fishing had not been very good in many places, with few legal sized rock lobster being taken. Blue cod, kahawai, gurnard and tara kihi fishing was good along the Wairarapa coast. Ed said hapuku catches remained poor, with only a few small ‘pup' groper being caught.

Mahia area update – Jenny

Jenny reported bad weather had limited fishing in the Mahia area. Catches of tarakihi were reported as good, while catches of hapuku were average. Jenny spoke about a purse seining vessel seen targeting kahawai 5 miles off Portland Island in early October. She asked if MFish had any information on the export markets for kahawai, in particular the end use (ie, fillets, canned, pet food etc).

Hawke's Bay area update – Colin

Colin said poor weather had restricted the number of fishing days during the past month. Although kahawai had been slow in recent months, tarakihi and gurnard were fishing ok. Snapper were slowly starting to show up in Hawke Bay , however this is reportedly later than last year. Colin referred to his boat ramp surveying and said the number of spiny dogfish and barracuda caught had increased substantially. Colin provided a copy of his latest ramp surveys.

Billy thanked the forum members for their collective updates on fishing around the NISE area, and for completing the regional update templates.

Agreed Actions

• Billy to locate recent export information for kahawai and send to the forum members

Item 4

Neville updated the forum on a number of compliance activities and initiatives that had occurred since the last meeting.

Neville noted training for eight new fishery officers was underway, and the recruits were currently based at the Police College in Porirua. Ed asked if any of the new fishery officers were going to be based in FMA 2. Neville said the new fishery officers would mostly be based in the Auckland area with the possibility of Wellington placements. He also explained how MFish recruited a group of between 8-14 fishery officers at one time for training purposes. Colin asked how the number of fishery officers was determined around the country. Neville explained the number of positions was based purely on the funding available for each fishery officer position. George asked if MFish could provide the forum with the number of fishery officers in each compliance district. Neville said he was able to provide this information to the forum.

Neville explained the Central Fisheries Management Area (CFMA) amateur regulations were in the process of being updated. The update was required because of the new measures introduced to protect hectors dolphins from set nets in parts of FMA 8. Printing of the regulations was likely to take place in early December.

Neville explained MFish had been working with the Paua 2 CSO's to develop a new type of paua knife made from a hard polymer plastic. The purpose of the new plastic knife is to prevent damage to the paua during harvesting. Neville explained the Paua 2 CSO were also looking to make their vessels more identifiable to the public as legitimate commercial operators. Identifying commercial paua vessels was to be achieved through the use of brightly coloured stickers. The forum thought clearly identifying commercial paua vessels was a good idea.

Neville noted the MFish plastic gauges used to measure paua were recently modified to increase their depth. He explained increasing the gauge depth meant paua with a greater depth could be more easily measured. The forum agreed the modified measuring gauge were a positive step, and looked forward to being able to use the new gauge..

Neville noted briefly: (i) the training manual for tangata kaitiaki permit issuers was being revised; (ii) an honorary fishery officer reference group was being established; and (iii) prosecutions from Operation PAID were progressing steadily.

The forum thanked Neville for his detailed compliance update.
 

Agreed Actions

• Neville to provide the number of fisheries officers in each compliance district to the forum members

Item 5

Billy introduced the ‘Direction of the NIS E forum' item as a continuation of Ed's paper that was discussed a the last forum meeting. Billy explained he had attached the agreed versions of the Terms of Reference (ToR), forum objectives and membership of the forum, to help guide the forums discussion.

Ed suggested the item should be deferred until the next forum meeting given the absence of Hilton and Alain. George, Colin, James and Jenny agreed. Billy suggested the members could still discuss, in broad terms, the potential new shape and direction of the forum. The discussion may include whether the forum wanted to elect a chairperson from the within the forum.

The forum discussed the merits of electing a chairperson. James thought the chairperson would need to have an in-depth understanding of the items on the agenda. James and Jenny posed the question whether a new chairperson was even required. This is because they felt comfortable with the current MFish chair. Ed , Colin and George agreed.

The forum briefly discussed each of the points in Ed's paper (Direction of the NISE forum). However the consensus of the forum was to defer the item.

Billy said the item could be deferred to the next meeting, however he suggested the item have more structure to guide the forums discussion. The forum agreed the item did need more structure, and Ed volunteered to draft up a the item and send it to each of the members for comment. After receiving the comments, Ed would send a final version of the item to Billy for inclusion on the next agenda.

Agreed Actions

• Ed to draft up the structure of the ‘Direction of NISE forum' item for the next agenda and send to each of the forum members for comments
• Ed to send final version of item to Billy for inclusion on the next agenda

Item 6a

Billy summarised the extension to the June 09 Regulatory Round papers, and explained the forum was now in a position to submit on the Charter Boat IPP if it wished. George explained the Ngawi sport fishing club had made a submission on the IPP, and highlighted the main points of the submission. Colin and Ed said the Zone 5 fishing clubs were also making a submission on the IPP.

George was of the view charter boat operators should not have to report GPS coordinates, as this information was the property of the operator. Jenny asked if MFish would release GPS coordinates to the public. Billy explained the same data release protocols that apply to the release of commercial fishing data collected by MFish, would apply to any charter boat data. Billy gave the example of not being able to release fine scale spatial information to the public (eg, the GPS track of a commercial vessel).

After some discussion, the forum agreed it would like to draft a submission on the IPP. George and Ed volunteered to draft the submission and send it to the forum members for comment.

Agreed Actions

• George and Ed to draft a submission on charter boat IPP, and to email the draft to the forum members for comment

Item 6b

Ed, George and Colin led the discussion on the voluntary recreational bag limit reduction articles that appeared in the Wairarapa Times-Age and the Hawke's Bay Today newspapers. George and Ed explained the measures were voluntary, but had the buy-in of the Zone 5 (of the NZBGFC) fishing clubs.

Billy congratulated the forum on taking the initiative to meet with Tom Paku (chairman of the Te Kupenga Whiturauroa a Maui forum) and get his endorsement for the voluntary measures. Neville and Billy said they had reports from Fishery Officers fielding questions from the public who had read, or heard about, the voluntary measures.

George asked Neville if the Zone 5 fishing clubs could place a sticker on MFish signage within the CRA 4 rock lobster area advertising the voluntary measures? Neville explained the risks of advertising voluntary measures on MFish signage.

Ed asked if any science research had been undertaken on the CRA 4 rock lobster fishery this year? Billy said he would find out if any research had been undertaken in the past year, or if any research was being commissioned. Billy also noted the plenary information for all rock lobster stocks was being collated, and would be discussed in November. Billy said he would send the plenary information on the CRA 4 rock lobster fishery to the forum when this became available.

Colin and George said the voluntary reduction was in place until March 2009, and would be reviewed in early March to see if the voluntary measures should be withdrawn or continued. Billy suggested the forum could consider the voluntary measures at the next forum meeting. The forum agreed this was a good idea, and asked Billy to add this to the next forum agenda.

Agreed Actions

• Billy to check if any research on the CRA 4 rock lobster fishery had been undertaken in the past year, and if any research was being commissioned
• Billy to send the plenary information for the CRA 4 rock lobster stock to the forum when it was publicly released
• Billy to add the review of the voluntary recreational bag limit for rock lobster in CRA 4 to the next forum agenda

Item 6c

Billy briefly outlined the proposed creel survey to estimate recreational harvest from Moremore mätaitai reserve areas A and B. He explained the estimate of recreational harvest would be used by the mätaitai committee to inform their decision making on how to best manage the two areas. Billy noted the methodology for the survey was not ready to inform the sampling, and the intervening period was being used to train people to survey recreational fishers. The training period would take place in the weekends over the November to December period on the Napier boat ramps.

Colin was concerned the Moremore survey work on the town boat ramps had the potential to undo all of the relationship work he had undertaken over the past two years with recreational fishers. He explained it had taken considerable time to get recreational fishers comfortable with the idea of supplying information on daily catch. Colin thought the survey work should be undertaken at Tangoio, Waipatiki and Aropaoanui. Billy explained the Moremore surveying would be undertaken on both areas A and B of the mätaitai, which necessitated boat ramp surveying as well as beach surveying. He also noted the Moremore surveying was targeting recreational harvest of rock lobster, paua, mussels and kina, whereas Colin's work concentrated on finfish. Billy said this would likely mean there was less chance of surveying overlap on the same town ramp.

Billy said he would keep the forum up to speed with the Moremore surveying, and advise the forum when the methodology was complete and the surveying proper was set to begin.

Agreed Actions

• Nil

Item 6d

Billy discussed the need to find new candidates to fill the two vacancies within the forum following the resignation of Wayne Bicknell and Simon Mills . He asked the forum members to put forward likely candidates interested in fisheries management, with sufficient time to participate. Billy added it was preferable if one of the candidates covered the East Cape area.

Colin said he had two people in mind from the Hawke's Bay region. Billy asked Colin to talk with the two people to see if they had time, and were interested in participating in the forum. Billy asked Colin to report back once he had talked with the two people.

Billy asked if the forum members had any contacts in the East Cape area. George and James suggested Billy ask Hilton and Alain for possible candidates from the East Cape area.

Agreed Actions

• Colin to talk to candidates in Hawke's Bay and report back to Billy
• Billy to talk with Hilton and Alain to seek possible candidates from East Cape area

Item 6e

Billy discussed the recent amendments to Section 13 of the Fisheries Act 1996 with the forum. He explained to the forum the reasons for MFish needing to amend Section 13, particularly in such a short timeframe.

Billy used the recent management decisions made by the Minister to reduce the TACC for bluenose stocks to illustrate why, from a management point of view, Section 13 required amendment. After discussing the problem, the forum agreed the minister could not have made any change to the bluenose TACC without amendment , as B MSY and B CURRENT of the bluenose stocks were not known.

The forum still maintained the time provided to make submissions on the proposed Section 13 amendment was very short.

In general, the forum found the bluenose example helpful in understanding why Section 13 required amendment to allow the Minister to adjust the TACC. Ed , George and Jenny said it was good to see MFish using science information (ie, the decline in CPUE for bluenose stocks), making a management decision and acting on it in a timely manner.

Jenny and Colin asked if MFish had similar information (ie, CPUE indices) for hapuku/bass in FMA 2? Billy explained the BNS 2 stock was targeted by one fishing method and had a lengthy time sequence of reliable catch information. This information enabled the stock assessment scientists to create CPUE indices which could be used to monitor the relative abundance of the bluenose stocks. In the case of hapuku/bass, in FMA 2 hapuku/bass was not a major target species, and did not have the same time series of reliable catch information to create similar CPUE indices.

Agreed Actions

• Nil

Item 6f

Agreed Actions

• Nil

Item 6g

Billy briefly explained the Rock Lobster industry Council (RLIC) rock lobster tagging programme to the forum. He covered off the key points on the information brochure (attached to the agenda).

Ed and George asked if the brochure was available as an electronic copy, so it could be attached to club newsletters. Billy advised there was an electronic copy, and he would send it to the forum.

Agreed Actions

• Billy to send forum members electronic version of RLIC rock lobster tagging information

Item 7

Billy outlined the agenda for the national meeting to the forum, and reminded the members that Ed and Colin were the NSE forum representatives at the meeting. Billy suggested the forum read through the supplementary information (ie, two letters on the amateur fishing trust, and questions for the forums to consider), and then work through the agenda to provide key messages for Ed and Colin to take to the national meeting.

Billy asked Ed and Colin to lead the discussion. The forum worked through the supplementary information and agenda items. Ed wrote down the forums views on each of the topics and said he would draft his notes and send them to the forum via email to comment on.

Agreed Actions

• Ed to send the views and key messages for the national meeting to the forum members for comment

Item 8

Billy very briefly outlined the next learning topic for the forum. He said in previous meetings the forum had asked questions such as: (i) how MFish conducts research; (ii) the research process, from identifying a problem to drafting up research; (iii) who pays for research; and (iv) who conducts the research. Billy thought these questions led nicely to the next learning topic, which is the MFish research and planning processes.

James said he would like a scientist to be present at the next meeting. The forum agreed it would be good to learn more about MFish research process, and to have a scientist at the meeting.

Agreed Actions

• Billy to arrange for a scientist to be at the next forum meeting

Next meeting

Close of meeting

Billy thanked the forum for their time and wished everybody a safe journey back to their homes.

The meeting was closed at 4.05 pm.