Meeting Notes: North Island-South West Regional Recreational Forum Wednesday 2 April 2008

Open Meeting

Meeting chair, Paul Creswell (MFish) opened the meeting at 6.30pm and welcomed members.

A special welcome was given to Andy McEwan (NZ Angling & Casting Association) who was stepping in for Jim O’Brien.

Paul welcomed Andy Warmbrunn from MFish’s East Coast Inshore Team to the meeting. Andy will be assisting the forum at future meetings as his team is responsible for fisheries within the Wellington region (as well as the east coast, North Island up to Cape Runaway).

Paul informed that Jo Cook had resigned from the forum and that he would discuss the need for a replacement at the next meeting.

Attendees

Paul Creswell (Chair, MFish)

Terry Liggett (Wanganui-Manawatu Sea Fishing Club)

Andy McEwan (NZ Angling & Casting Association)

Jim Mikoz (Wellington Recreational Marine Fishers Association)

Brent Rolston (Fielding Surfcasters Club)

Bob Rosemergy (Spearfishing New Zealand)

Ross Thurston (MFish)

Dave Thorpe (Mana Cruising Club)

Andy Warmbrunn (MFish)

Apologies

Kevin Moratti (Taranaki Recreational Fishers Association)

Jim O’Brien (NZ Angling & Casting Association)

Meeting Introduction

Paul confirmed the meeting agenda with members.  The main agenda items were the Tarakihi 2 Fishery and the review of fisheries regulations for the 1 October 2008 fishing year (häpuku/bass 2 and Marlborough Sounds blue cod fisheries proposals).

Other agenda items included the regional fisheries updates, the North-West Finfish Fisheries Plan, and the proposed review of recreational fishing rules.

Paul stated that a report back from last year’s national meeting of regional recreational fisheries forums would be done at the next forum meeting when Jim O’Brien and Kevin Moratti could lead the discussions.

Paul advised the minutes of the last forum meeting held on 10 November 2007 had been posted on the MFish website at:

http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Recreational/Recreational+Forums/Lower+North+Island/NI+SW/Meeting+4+-+10+Nov+2007.htm

Action: 1)  Jim and Kevin to provide an update on last year’s national meeting of regional recreational fisheries forums at next meeting.

Regional Updates

Members provided regional updates on the state of recreational fishing within their local areas.   There was a general feeling that recreational fishing over the summer had been very good due to long periods of excellent weather.  Members noted that their fishers had reported good catches of blue cod, snapper, kingfish (Bob noted that a 33kg fish had been speared during the recent Wanganui Manawatu Sea Fishing Club Wellington Anniversary competition), and various tuna species.  

Several members noted that kahawai catches had been very patchy. 

Ross Thurston provided the forum with a local compliance update.  He noted that most offences within the region continued to be paua poaching along the Wellington south coast.  He reminded members of the 0800 4 Poacher (0800 4 76224) number to report any activities of illegal fishing. 

Bob Rosemergy advised the forum that Freediving New Zealand has changed its name to Spearfishing New Zealand.  He said the association has a new website (http://www.spearfishingnz.co.nz/).

North-West Finfish Fisheries Plan

Brent Rolston reminded members that he and Kevin Moratti were representing the forum on the Fisheries Plan Advisory Group responsible for developing a Fisheries Plan for the west coast, North Island finfish fisheries.

He noted the group has met twice and were now in the process of completing the Information Brief that documents the current state of the fisheries.  Once completed, this document will provide a very good source of information on their local fisheries.  Paul provided members with a summary document of the Information Brief.

Brent expressed concern that the recreational sector was not well resourced to participate in the process compared to the other sectors.  He added that this may prevent his sector from achieving their desired objectives for local recreational fisheries.  Paul noted that the process was not about winners or losers, but rather about developing an agreed set of common objectives amongst all sectors.  He noted that he was happy to provide Brent with any additional assistance or information to help with his role on the group.

Paul advised members that progress on the fisheries plan, together with all relevant documents, can be obtained from the plan’s dedicated webpage at: http://fpcs.fish.govt.nz/FishPlanComplex.aspx?ID=14.

Tarakihi 2 Fishery

Jim Mikoz raised concerns about the state of local tarakihi populations within the Wellington region.  He noted that recreational fishers were experiencing lower catch rates, particularly when fishing off Makora.  He noted that he had experienced lower catch rates when fishing off reefs along the 40m contour compared to previous years.  Jim attributed lower tarakihi abundance to the impacts of trawling and removing of spawning fish.

Andy McEwan stated that he had experienced good tarakihi fishing in the Wellington region over the past two years and that this fishery tends to be very localised and variable.  Both Terry Liggett and Dave Thorpe stated that recent tarakihi fishing had been good within their areas.  The forum agreed that differences in catches may be explained by differences in fishing different depths, as Jim was having trouble catch fish within 40 m depth, while others were getting good catches in deeper waters.

Andy Warmbrunn provided the forum with an overview of the Tarakihi 2 and 8 commercial fisheries, which extend along the lower half of the North Island.  He highlighted that most commercial catches are taken off the Hawke’s Bay and only a small proportion of commercial tarakihi catches are taken from the Wellington region.  In addition, there has been no increase in commercial catches off Wellington.  As such, he said that he did not believe there was a sustainability issue with the Tarakihi 2 fishery, but that Jim was probably experiencing temporal changes in local abundance given the views of other members.

The forum agreed to not progress this issue at this time.  Rather, Jim would report back to the forum next year on whether he was still experiencing problems with his local tarakihi fishery.

The forum briefly discussed the collection of fishing information (catch numbers and rates) by recreational fishing clubs.  Paul informed the forum that he would invite a member from MFish’s Science Team to discuss stock assessment research of recreational fisheries to the next meeting.

Action 2) Invite MFish Science to the next meeting to discuss recreational fishing research.

Review of Regulatory and other Management Controls for the 1 October 2008 Fishing Year

Paul informed the forum that MFish was currently consulting on several proposals to introduce or amend various fishing regulations in time for the 1 October 2008 fishing year.  He briefly outlined the main steps of the consultation process including the development of the Initial Position Paper (consultation document) and Final Advice Paper (paper for Minister of Fisheries).  Paul noted that he had earlier informed members on the release of the 2008 Initial Position Paper.

Paul highlighted that the review considered two recreational fishing proposals.  There were:

Local depletion of häpuku/bass within the Central Fishery Management Area

Blue cod in the Marlborough Sounds

Andy Warmbrunn gave the forum an overview of the hapukü/bass proposal.  He noted the proposal was developed in response to request of, and based on concerns raised by, recreational and customary fishers, including issues raised at this forum and the East Coast Regional Recreational Forum. All the reports received said that the problem is localised depletion and that the cause was more recreational fishers targeting hapuku/bass. None of the reports said that commercial fishing was the cause of the reported localised depletion (and information on commercial fisheries seems to support no increase in effort in the regions).

Andy highlighted the four options presented in the paper, which include: maintaining the status quo, a reduction to the amateur daily bag limit, a maximum boat limit, and a accumulation limit of one daily bag limit.

Members discussed the proposal at some length.  Various members expressed their views on the local häpuku/bass populations within their own regions, and whether they supported or opposed the various proposals.  It was noted that members generally supported an overall boat limit on recreational fishers.  Some members raised the need to impose a minimum legal size limit to provide greater protection to the breeding stock.

Andy requested all members to actively encourage their clubs and individual fishers to send submissions on the proposed changes to MFish. He noted that it was important for submissions to include the preferred option (or mix of options) and any information regarding catch levels and/or local depletion of hapuku/bass. He added that it was great to hear that forum members are actively discussing the issue within their clubs and that the more submissions and information MFish receives, the better it can assess the issue and make informed decisions.

Paul provided an overview of the Marlborough Sounds blue cod fishery.  He noted that MFish had prepared the proposal, together with a local stakeholder group SoundFish, in response to new stock assessment information.  This information suggested that local depletion of blue cod was still occurring within many areas in the Marlborough Sounds despite the introduction of measures on the recreational fishery in 2003.  He noted the proposed measures intended to lower recreational harvest levels and included spatial closures, a lower bag limit, a new boat and accumulation limit, and minimum hook sizes.

Again, members expressed their views on whether they supported or opposed the various proposals.  Some members noted the proposed spatial ban would prevent fishers from catching other fish species such as snapper, kahawai and flatfish.  They suggested a restriction on fishing method type rather than a blanket ban to enable other methods like trolling and stray lining to continue.  There was also support to require fishers to use large, barbless hooks to reduce incidental fishing mortality.  Terry Liggett suggested a national review of the maximum number of hooks on recreational longlines given the trend to lower bag limits.

Paul encouraged members to discuss the proposals with their respective clubs and associations, and to provide MFish with a submission on their views.  He noted the information in submissions would be used to inform the Minister and assist with his decisions.

Proposed Recreational Fishing Regulations Review

Paul reminded the forum that MFish was still intending to conduct a final review of the top 10 recreational concerns as identified by the NZ Recreational Fishing Council later this year.  He noted again there was an opportunity for the forum to identify possible issues for review, which MFish would then forward to the NZRFC for discussion and prioritisation.  Ideas could also be forwarded directly the NZRFC. 

Paul noted however, that he was not in a position to advise when this review would get underway and hoped to provide more information at the next forum meeting.

Terry Liggett asked why the review did not involve Option4 and the Big Game Fishing Council.  Andy Warmbrumm noted that he would provide a response to this question in the minutes.

The review did, and does involve Option4 and the Big Game Fishing Council when consulting on what proposals it wishes to progress.

General Business

Shared-Fisheries Initiative

Brent asked MFish for an update on the Shared-Fisheries Initiative that commenced in 2006.

Paul informed the forum of the Minister’s decisions on this initiative (November 2007), which included:

plans to expand research to better estimate recreational fishers’ catch and values in key stocks

establish an amateur fishing trust to assist the development of improved capacity for representation of recreational fishing sector interests

consult with the sector on introducing activity and catch reporting by recreational charter boat operators.

Paul also noted that the Minister had agreed to defer any further decisions until a joint stakeholder working group (comprising of Te Ohu Kaimoana, SeaFIC, NZ Recreational Fishing Council, Option4, and Big Game Fishing Council) had developed joint policy proposals on the shared fisheries reform.  He noted the Minister intends to report back to Cabinet in July with recommendations on how best to advance these reforms.

Paul noted that regular updates on the Shared-Fisheries Initiative were available from the MFish website at:

http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Shared+Fisheries/default.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished

Manawatu/Wanganui fishery

Terry stated that concerns have been raised about the presence of trawl fishing very close to shore off Manawatu/Wanganui.  Paul noted that he was aware that a longstanding voluntary trawl agreement existed between Cape Egmont and Rangitikei River that prevents trawling within 2nm (single trawl) and 4nm (pair trawl) from shore.  Paul agreed to report back at the next meeting on the current status of this agreement.

Paul also provided Terry with various commercial catch information within the Manawatu/Wanganui region.

Action 3) Paul to report back on the status of the South Taranaki Voluntary Trawl Agreement

Fisher education

Several members raised the need for MFish to provide the recreational sector with more information regarding incidental fishing (handing) mortality, particularly the blue cod fisheries.  Paul noted that MFish had developed a series of pamphlets about the best ways to handle fish to improve the survivability of returned fish.  Ross noted that he was aware that these pamphlets were no longer available, but were continued to be reprinted in the Recreational Fisher’s Handbook.

Action 4) Ross to follow up on the status of these pamphlets

Action 5) Paul to provide the forum with a copy of the research report on handing mortality on blue cod

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Jim raised concerns about a lack of appropriate recreational fishing representation on the regional advisory groups set out to advance MPAs.

Paul noted he was not able to comment on this matter but that he was not aware of any MPA initiatives within the Wellington region in the near future.  He said he would endeavor to keep the forum informed on any future local MPA developments.

Hector’s/Maui’s dolphin Threat Management Plan

Paul advised the forum that MFish and Department of Conservation was currently consulting on new information that would help inform ministers when making decisions on the proposed threat management plan.  This information comprised of population modeling information, and new survey and sighting information.  More details of this information can be obtained from MFish’s website at:

http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Consultations/Hector+new/default.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished

Paul reminded members that one of the roles of the North Island South West Regional Recreational Forum was to increase member’s understanding about fisheries management and that they should inform him of any areas where they would like more information.  The forum agreed it would be useful for Paul to provide an overview of the commercial catch balancing regime at the next meeting if time permits.

Action 6) Paul to provide the forum with an overview of the commercial catch balancing regime at next meeting

No other items were raised.

Next Meeting

The forum agreed to hold the next meeting on a Saturday.

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

Forum reps to report back on the National Meeting of the Regional Recreational Forums

Next year’s proposed recreational fishing regulations review

Overview of recreational fishing research

Overview of commercial catch balancing regime (if time permits)

Closing

Meeting closed at 9.45pm