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TOS Regional Recreational Forum 28 February 2008
Open Meeting & Apologies |
Meeting chair, Rob Tinkler (MFish), opened the meeting and welcomed attendees. |
Attendees
Apologies |
Martyn Barlow
John Duncan
Greg Goodall
Ron Prestage
Betty McNab
Mark Roden
John Waugh
John Williams MFish staff: Rob Tinkler
Claire Norris
Geoff Clark
David Scranney Ron Adams
Charlie Boulton
Scott Williamson |
Agenda confirmation |
Rob confirmed the agenda and order of agenda items. |
Correspond. |
Rob noted the only correspondence received was a copy of TASFISH’s submission on MFish’s Proposed Fisheries Services for 2008-09 consultation document that included proposals to fund the amateur fishing trust and to progress introduction of recreational charter boat reporting. Martyn and Greg spoke to this paper as an agenda item later in the meeting. |
Meeting notes of the previous meeting |
Members confirmed notes from previous meeting. Martyn asked about progress on inviting a representative from the Buller Recreational Fishing Association to join the forum, and for an update on the two action points from the last meeting with regard to FLA 7. Rob informed the group that with respect to a flatfish, Action 1: Review of the FLA7 catch will be put up for prioritisation in MFish’s prioritisation round for the October 2008 sustainability round. If it is given enough priority, FLA 7 will be reviewed this year. Rob will ask Scott about Action 2. Addenda: (i) Rob has contacted a member from the Buller Recreational Fishing Association to see if he would be interested in joining the ToS Forum. He will keep the group informed of progress. (ii) FLA 7 Action 2: Scott made contact with Challenger Finfish Management Company regarding review of the Pelorus Sound set netting voluntary agreement. MFish will review this after Des Boyce (via SoundFish) and Carol have discussed the current local issue. |
Members regional updates |
Members provided an update on recreational fishing in their local areas, and submitted fishing reports. |
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Compliance Update-MFish |
MFish District Compliance Manager, Geoff Clark, updated forum members on compliance issues within the ToS. Geoff tabled a Compliance report prepared for the group detailing recreational compliance effort and rates of offending for the 2007 calendar year. The report noted that with the exception of Kaikoura (which is outside the scope of the ToS Recreational Forum) compliance levels have been consistent with other years and have generally been good, with perhaps 5% of fishers generally causing all the problems, and that this was fairly consistent across New Zealand. Geoff noted that that particular compliance issues in Nelson and Marlborough were (i) the high number of offences committed by new immigrants; this creates problems in both education and enforcement; and (ii) problems with recreational fishers ‘double-dipping’ for scallops in the Marlborough Sounds, ie taking their daily bag limit of scallops, then making a second trip in the same day and taking another daily bag limit. |
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Blue Cod |
Dave Scranney discussed the blue cod (BCO 7) Initial Position Paper (IPP) that he is currently drafting, covering sustainability issues with Marlborough Sounds blue cod, the types of available management options in general, and the consultation process that MFish is following. Survey data demonstrates that the abundance of blue cod continues to decline in the Marlborough Sounds, with the inner Sounds in particular showing very low levels of, or no, recruitment. Dave described the role SoundFish played in helping MFish to formulate potential options in the IPP by way of preliminary discussions. Several members of the ToS Rec Forum expressed their anger and disappointment about not being included in MFish’s discussions, noting that SoundFish is not a recreational fishing organization and that MFish should have instead discussed the formulation of options with the ToS Rec Forum. Dave explained that time constraints meant that it was not possible to discuss the draft IPP with all groups, and that the ToS Rec Forum, its constituent groups, and the wider stakeholder (recreational, commercial, iwi and environmentalist) community would all have the opportunity to make submissions on the IPP when it was released on March 7 [now expected to be March 12]. The group agreed to hold a special meeting of the ToS Rec Forum to discuss the IPP four weeks after it was released (April10), and to prepare a submission with MFish assistance as appropriate. Action 1: Rob to confirm meeting venue and time with the ToS Rec Forum (Thursday 10 April 5.30-9.30 PM at MFish Nelson). Action 2: Formal submission on BCO IPP from ToS Rec Forum to be developed and agreed to at a special meeting |
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Paddle Crabs |
Ron Prestage noted that fishers, in particular surf casters, are encountering large numbers of paddle crabs on the West Coast. Ron suggested that the increase may be attributable to a decline in snapper and/or rig that would otherwise prey on the paddle crabs. Action: Rob to pass information onto Paul Creswell, who is responsible for shellfish fisheries. |
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Hectors Threat Management Plan |
Rob gave the forum a brief update on the Hectors and Maui Threat Management Plan. He noted the huge number of submissions that were received (2,500). The Minister of Fisheries agreed to provide the Ministry with more time in which to consider these submissions in order to prepare its final advice. Currently, the Ministry is still preparing this advice, and is due to be presented to the Minister towards the end of March. After this time, the Minister will make his decisions. The expected timeframe for decisions is unknown at this time. John Waugh and Martyn voiced concern over the accuracy of some of the information contained in the IPP, such as presence of Hector’s and their abundance, noting there were lots of Hector’s in Golden bay. Mark expressed concern at the amount of resource being put into management of a single species, as opposed to the ecosystem as a whole. |
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TASFISH Submission on Charter Boats and Amateur Trust |
Martyn Barlow tabled the TASFISH submission on MFish’s consultation document that outlines what services MFish proposes funding in 2008-09. TASFISH’s submission was restricted to comments on funding an amateur trust and also research into charter boat reporting. Claire noted that Cabinet still had to decide whether it would fund both the amateur trust and a register for recreational charter boat operators. Martyn noted that if the Forum wished to add anything to TASFISH’s submission, he would include it and send the submission the next day (February 29). The Forum moved to unanimously endorse the TASFISH submission. Action: Martyn to send the TASFISH submission, along with the ToS Rec Forum submission, to Brian Ashton (Business Planning, Reporting and Cost Recovery Manager MFish) on 29.02.08. Addenda: Martyn sent the following submission, on behalf of the ToS Rec Forum, to accompany the TASFISH submission: (i) Funding for and establishment of the Amateur Fishing Trust must be approved if a more organised and cohesive approach to Amateur representation is to be achieved; and (ii) Funding for a Charter Vessel Reporting system is essential and must be approved to ensure better information is gathered on the share of the Amateur harvest through this sector. Through improved information better management decisions (and controls if necessary) will be made resulting in improved outcomes |
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Recreational Regulations Review |
Claire described the upcoming third, and final, review of recreational regulations. This is part of the promise made by the Minister to review the top 10 concerns of recreational fishers over a 3 year period (relating to recreational, not commercial issues). Claire will be running the review, which is done in conjunction with the NZRFC, starting in early 2008. Claire asked forum members for proposals they might have for this review, for submission to the NZRFC for consideration. The Forum put forward the following ideas: (i) Betty would like the blue cod line shifted 4nm east (ii) Martyn would like the Wellington blue cod bag limit changed to the same as the Marlborough Sounds (iii) Martyn would like to see mandatory telson clipping of crayfish introduced (iv) Martyn would like to see the mesh sizes of set nets rationalized (ie the number of mesh sizes reduced), especially as vessels can only carry one net (v) Mark would like to see set nets banned and other passive fishing methods (vi) John Duncan would like a maximum mesh size imposed on set nets, noting that some fishers are using 200mm mesh sizes, which means that the net is twice the height of a net with 100mm meshes, and enabled fishers to catch snapper in Kenepuru Sound (vii) Martyn would like to see the MLS for flats (25cm) and sand flounder (23cm) rationalized, ie 25cm for all, as it is often difficult to distinguish the species (viii) Martyn would like to see Disability permits reinstated (ix) Johnny would like to see a CRA bag limit introduced for boat drivers Action: Claire will forward these suggestions to Keith Ingram. |
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Fish Plans Update |
Martyn gave the forum an update on the Challenger Inshore Finfish Fisheries (CIFF) plan and the fish plan advisory group (FPAG). He noted that three meetings have been held now, and that the group had virtually finished reviewing the information brief. The next CIFF FPAG meeting is on March 19, where the information brief will be finalized and objective setting will begin. Martyn noted the lack of information on the recreational sector in the information brief, and invited Forum members to read the relevant parts of the information brief, and to provide information on the recreational sector to Martyn, Claire or Rob (preferably all three) to include in the plan. Martyn agreed to organise a meeting of local recreational fishers to discuss the objective setting stage of the fish plan development and what sorts of objectives recreational fishers would like to see. The suggested date was April 17 at a venue to be confirmed (possibly Pelorus Boat Club, Havelock (to be booked by John Duncan). It will be an evening meeting and MFish will attend to help answer questions. Actions (i) Martyn to send Forum members links to the CIFF FP website and/or PDFs of the relevant sections of the CIFF FP (Addenda: done, 29.02.08) (i) Martyn to arrange meeting for interested recreational fishers to discuss possible CIFF objectives. Addenda: Martyn and Claire have since discussed the meeting idea. They agreed that turnout may be an issue, and the CIFF plan difficult to explain. Martyn and Claire are considering other approaches, and will agree on, and confirm by e-mail, new arrangement. |
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Agenda items for the next meeting |
The following is a list of agenda items raised during the meeting for the next forum meeting: Marine Protected Areas progress update Invite Ralph Townsend (MFish Chief Economist) to a meeting this year to talk about the value of recreational fishing. Fish Plans Update |
Meeting Closed |
Rob closed the meeting at 10.05 PM |
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