TOS Regional Recreational Forum - 16 August 2007

Open Meeting & Apologies

Meeting chair, Rob Tinkler (MFish), opened the meeting and welcomed attendees.

Attendees

Charlie Boulton

John Duncan

Greg Goodall

Ron Prestage

Betty McNab

Mark Roden

John Waugh

John Williams

MFish staff:

Rob Tinkler

Claire Norris

Scott Williamson (left after Fish Plan discussion)

Geoff Clark (left after discussion on Compliance Issues)

Apologies:

Ron Adams

Martyn Barlow

Agenda conformation

Rob confirmed the agenda and order of agenda items. John Williams’ item was moved forward.

Meeting notes of the previous meeting

Members confirmed notes from previous meeting.

Members regional updates

Members provided an update on recreational fishing in their local areas. Most members submitted fishing reports.

Compliance Update-MFish

MFish District Compliance Manager, Geoff Clark, updated forum members on compliance issues within the ToS.

Geoff, following up on the previous meeting’s minutes, confirmed that charter boats are governed by the amateur regulations, so they are not permitted to use more than two long lines. Geoff noted that he is in the process of writing to charter boat operators about a number of issues, so he will include the appropriate use of long lines in this letter.

Geoff talked to the forum about the compliance team’s approach to recreational fishing in this area and noted the location of honorary fishery officer (HFO) groups. He explained that HFOs recorded a lot of information on vessel and fisher numbers, fish caught and offences detected.

Betty noted her concern that the application of the ‘primary taker’ rule is not clear (divers can take extra daily bag limits for up to two safety people on board - but only for oysters and scallops). Geoff noted that some fishers have been pushing the definition of what a safety person is – they are not a toddler or someone waiting on the shore.

An ongoing issue is transiting and measuring fish away from the water. Geoff noted that some fishers are still taking their catch back to a vehicle for measuring which is not only illegal for undersized fish (they are considered landed once they leave the water), but reduces the chances of the animal surviving when it is returned to the sea.

The forum expressed some interest in summary statistics describing the types of offending committed by recreational fishers, and also information about recreational catch rates. Geoff noted some of the hotspots for offending, which included paua poaching on the West Coast; scallop and cod offences around Separation Point; pockets of offending in Kiwi Bay, D’Urville Island, Port Underwood, Cape Campbell and the Kaikoura coast. He noted Pelorus Sound had a low level of offending, despite the high numbers of people.

The forum noted that Geoff’s occasional column in The Fishing Paper is an excellent tool for explaining complex fishing rules. Geoff is open to ideas on other ways to get information on fishing rules out to the public.

Geoff also invited suggestions from the forum what items they would like him to discuss in future meetings.

FLA 7

Johnny Williams and Betty McNab expressed concern about localised depletion of flatfish in the Marlborough Sounds part of FLA7. They noted it was disappointing that although the TACC is being reviewed (and TAC and allowances set) for FLA3 in the MFish Sustainability Round this year, there was nothing similar scheduled for FLA7.

Scott noted that the characterisation work being undertaken in FLA3 will be directly relevant to FLA7 since sustainability issues are similar in the two QMAs. Scott stated he would commit resources to FLA7 once the FLA3 review was complete.

Action: 1) MFish will report back to the forum at the next ToS meeting and the forum can discuss options for FLA7.

MPA Certification

Rob distributed copies of Martyn’s draft letter to the Minister expressing concern that the time available for consultation on the ‘Draft Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Protection Standard and Classification System’ was too short.

Rob noted that although this was not something that MFish could be involved in directly, he could report that the consultation period had been extended by a month (submissions now close September 30).

Some forum members expressed frustration with the consultation process, noting that the documentation was often very technical and that they did not intend to put forward a submission for their areas.

Fish Plans - MFish

Scott talked to the forum about Ministry-led fisheries plans, noting that the Challenger Inshore Finfish (CIFF) Plan would be the first plan to be progressed in this region.

Fisheries plans will be developed by small multi-stakeholder advisory groups over the period of a year. Scott discussed a potential model for the CIFF Plan advisory group. Under the model, there are three seats reserved for recreational representatives. Ideally, recreational representatives would represent the three broad areas within the ToS – West Coast, Tasman and Golden Bays, and Marlborough Sounds. Representatives would report between the fisheries plan advisory group and the TOS recreational forum.

Members of the forum were asked to indicate their interest or forward nominations for membership of the CIFF plan advisory group to Scott and Rob. Post Script: As at 24.08.07 three nominations for the advisory group representatives have been received.

Scott noted that several of the issues raised at the meeting (FLA7 sustainability issues, recreational bag limits in South Westland, and MLS for snapper) were all issues that could be addressed in the CIFF plan.

Although forum members had concerns about fisheries plans (including the desire for an outcome on the Shared Fisheries policy before embarking on fisheries plans and worrying that they won’t succeed), the overall consensus was getting involved with fisheries plans was worth try. Some forum members also noted that it was positive to see MFish leading the process, as opposed to being on the sidelines.

Top of the South Island Fisheries Research

Claire noted the recreational research planning meeting was about to be held, and described some of the recreational research projects that were being proposed. Claire also noted that recently completed recreational research projects in the Challenger area were due to be reported back from the research providers. The two projects recently completed are the Marlborough Sounds recreational survey, and the West Coast recreational fishing profile.

Action: 2) Claire will circulate a summary of the recreational research findings to forum members, and include the research findings as an agenda item at the next forum meeting.

Betty McNab referred to some research on Marlborough Sounds blue cod, asking if there was any way to get funding from MFish to get it analysed and determined as scientifically sound. Rob has since talked to Betty about some possible options.

MLS for Snapper

Ron Prestage reiterated his dissatisfaction with the MLS for snapper, suggesting that an increase in the MLS from 25cm to 30cm might be appropriate. Ron provided a chart of age-length data for commercially-caught snapper in Tasman and Golden Bays for 2003-04 (after getting in contact with people from NIWA) to stimulate discussion. Commercially caught snapper <25cm TL made up less than 1% of the catch, 25-29cm snapper made up 18% of the catch, with snapper >30cm making up around 81% of the catch. Moving to a larger mesh size and/or increasing the MLS to 30cm are two options worth exploring in the fish plan.

It was noted that MFish had previously done some work on MLS and code end sizes in trawl nets. Scott let the forum know of two documents he had seen on gear selectivity.

Action: 3) Rob will provide the above documents to the forum.

Bag Limits

Charlie reiterated his view that the bag limits for some species were too high in some areas such as South Westland, and that he would support a reduction in the daily allowance for some species such as blue cod and groper. Greg noted that a reduction in the bag limit was not necessarily appropriate for the whole Challenger area; any change in bag limits would need to be looked at the sub-QMA level.

As outlined by Nathan at the last forum meeting, there are two ways to investigate this proposal: (i) Through the Recreational Fishing Regulations Review: MFish had agreed to consider a number of recreational fishing regulations submitted through the Recreational Fishing Council (RFC) over a period of three years. It was anticipated that the final review would have started before the August forum but the RFC have since indicated that they wanted to postpone the review until early 2008. (ii) As part of the Challenger Inshore Finfish Plan process.

West Coast Amateur Fishing Forum

Greg told the forum that a amateur fishing forum has been set up on the west coast of the South Island, similar to Tasfish, and that there has been quite a bit of interest in it. Greg noted that Geoff Rowling was one of the instigators, and that it had been put together so that amateur involvement in the West Coast MPA pilot programme was more organised.

The forum noted that it may be possible to get a representative from the northern part of the west coast (for the TOS forum) from this group. Charlie has been talking to Paul Creswell (of MFish) about this group too.

General Business

Agenda items for the next meeting

The following is a list of agenda items raised during the meeting for the next forum meeting:

Report back on FLA3 research; discuss plan of attack for FLA7 (Scott)

Update on the fisheries plan progress (MFish)

Marine Protected Areas progress update

District Compliance Manager attending

Recreational research findings (Marlborough Sounds and the West Coast) - Claire