Northland Non-Commercial Fishing Forum

Meeting Twelve

Draft Summary of Discussion

1. Welcome and opening of meeting

Murray opened the meeting by welcoming members and introduced new forum member Doug Carter, new MFish employee Celina Garcia, and NIWA scientist Mark Morrison.

After discovering an error in the map of commercial fishing regulations in the Northland region circulated to forum members, Murray withdrew these maps.

Action: Re-circulate corrected version of map to forum members

2. Confirmation of previous meeting summary

Murray reviewed previous meeting notes and updated the forum on the progress for each action point. Murray also gave a brief summary of the Bay of Islands marine survey noting that the actual extent of the survey area was uncertain but that it would be carried out in two phases, the first focussing on bathymetry, the second on biodiversity. The previous meeting summary was confirmed with no amendments made.

3. Presentation on grey mullet

Celina gave a brief presentation on grey mullet. The presentation addressed questions forum members had raised regarding the catch, distribution and spawning behaviour of grey mullet.

John Chibnall questioned why the TAC is so high when it’s not caught. TC responded that there are various reasons why a TAC might not be caught. For example, commercial fishers have told the Ministry in the past that market condition often influence mullet catch. Simon Howard questioned what grey mullet eat. John TC and Mark Morrison responded that grey mullet would likely be eating mud and diatoms (depending on what life stage they’re at). Simon was concerned that mullet could be ingesting increasingly polluted food sources as the Bay of Islands continues to receive sediment and sewage from land-based activities. John TC noted that these are issues that would need to be taken up with the territorial authority. Alan Moore notes that the kinds of pollution entering the Bay of Islands might not necessarily affect mullet as they would humans.

Paul Batten noted that there is very little smoked mullet for sale in Whangarei at present.

Simon noted that Sept-Oct traditionally brings big runs of mullet into the Bay Of Islands and other places. He questioned where they are for the rest of the time.

John Torr: Interested in the number of grey mullet caught for bait.

Darren Edwards noted that the social value of grey mullet exceeds the commercial value, especially in Pacific Island communities.

Compliance issues were also discussed – although a blackmarket is known to exist, the extent of illegal activity around mullet is not known.

Action: provide a copy of the mullet presentation to Paul Batten, Simon Howard, John Torr and Doug Carter.

4. Snapper presentation

Mark Morrison (NIWA) gave a presentation on snapper, focusing on habitat types that are important as nursery areas to juvenile fishes. Key points from Mark’s presentation included:

• seagrass is an extremely important habitat for many juvenile finfish species;
• seagrass is an increasingly rare habitat type;
• research suggests that approx. 98% of snapper on the west coast of the North Island spent time in the Kaipara harbour as juveniles;
• experiments with artificial seagrass show promise but remain expensive

Questions arising from presentation:

How will the proposed turbines in the Kaipara affect fish movement in and out of the harbour? A forum member raised a concern that the swim bladders of fish would burst as a result of passing near the turbines. Mark responds that it’s not likely the swim bladder would be affected. John TC commented that the turbines are not likely to affect small fish which are good at moving away from pressure. He also noted that turbine installation will be staged so that any adverse affects can be identified early in the process.

John TC questioned whether the importance of one embayment like the Kaipara for the west coast was typical and whether or not the east coast (with its many smaller embayments) would display similar patterns. Mark responded that one or two critical habitats seems to be typical for snapper. The east coast shows the same trend as the west coast although it’s more difficult to get the full picture as there are many embayments etc around islands.

Mark showed footage from East Coast Bays of horse mussels and juvenile snapper. He noted that although snapper densities in horse mussel beds are at a much lower level than sea grasses, mussel beds are still important as they are a more common habitat than sea grasses.

Mark noted that horse mussels are not an introduced pest, but a natural species that has been severely damaged.

Alan Moore asked if snapper are spawning offshore/out of harbour and the larvae moving back in to the harbour. Mark noted that there was a difference of opinion about that but his personal view was that snapper spawn out of the harbour and the eggs drift back in.

Paul questioned what the snapper stock currently looks like. Mark and John Taunton-Clark noted that snapper on the west coast is currently at 8-12% of unfished biomass. This is under the biomass that can support the MSY. John Taunton-Clark provided information on the last few changes to TAC for SNA 8. He noted that our assumptions about recruitment and growth may be flawed given that we have only recently found that the Kaipara is such a crucial nursery ground.

Mark notes that there are a few big projects coming up which will look more at ecosystem management approaches to fisheries management.

John Chibnall asks Mark about kahawai. Mark responds that kahawai are semi-pelagic and are subject to different kinds of threats although water clarity and sedimentation are still an issue. Mark noted that kahawai seldom found in harbours but more so in sandy open-coast habitats. Tarakihi are found in colder water, so in the North Island they’re found in deeper water but in the South Island can be found in much shallower water.

This was followed by a discussion on the affects of sediment run off in to harbours. Mark noted that changes in the aquatic environment such as water quality are often insidious, and difficult to detect over time. A number of forum members expressed concern about the amount of sediment getting into harbours. John TC notes that this is something that territorial authorities need to be made aware of, and that there is a need to understand the effects of land-based activities on areas important for fisheries managment.

Mark notes that NIWA has dome some work in this area.

Actions:

• Distribute copies of NIWA’s land based review (Wellington) at next forum meeting.
• Distribute copies of the snapper presentation to Doug McColl, John Torr, Doug Carter and Paul Batten.

5. Members updates

John Torr: Snapper have been caught in Whangarei harbour. No reports on tarakihi. On 15 August attended a meeting of the Outboard Boating Club.

Hamish Faire: Minimal fishing since the last meeting because of the weather. There are some snapper in mid range water. Not many inshore. 50-60m range for tarakihi. There are a few kingfish about – a few in 20m. Barracouta out deeper.

John Chibnall: Fishing still hard. Bad weather has prevented most fishing lately. Has a few concerns:

• Section 13
• Kahawai court process – angered at the Ministry’s ‘change of course’.
• Questioned what’s happening with Shared Fisheries.
• Concerned that the forums might not exist in future – there have been many forums in past under different names which no longer exist.
• Concerned that the forums are ‘wasting time’. Although supports the idea of forums, thinks they need to be able to achieve more.

John TC and Murray addressed these concerns noting that the Ministry is open to discussion on how to increase effectiveness of the forum. They also noted that from the Ministry’s perspective, the forums are worthwhile and valuable as an opportunity to engage with the recreational sector and gain their views and opinions.
Murray suggested that if the forum would like to, there could be a workshop run at the next forum on how to increase the influence of forums. John C supports this idea. John Taunton-Clark notes that there is the potential for Geoff Rowling and other leaders of non-commercial groups to meet at the National Hui for non-commercial fishing forums.

Action: Include a workshop in the next meeting to discuss increasing the effectiveness of forums.

Doug McColl: Hard fishing in Doubtless Bay with lots of bad weather. Some tarakihi around. Recalls a story about a family in Marlborough who collected driftwood and shells but had these confiscated by DoC officers. Also occurred in Wellington over the weekend.

Doug McColl also questioned what the rules are for scallops washed up on the beach. Murray responded that bag limits and size limits apply, but it is legal to collect scallops that are completely stranded on the beach (i.e., not in the wash zone) outside the normal scallop season.

Doug Carter: Lives and fishes in the Kaipara and West Coast area. Doug noted that at this stage it appears will not be any appeals to the decision to approve the Crest Energy tidal energy project. Clarified with Murray that the Kaipara Harbour was closed for scallops until 17th at which point a request will be made to the Minister for a further closure. DoC declared there will be a Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the Kaipara effective to 12km out to sea. Te Uri o Hau has settled its rohe moana within the Kaipara.

Paul Batten: Paul noted that many people in his club were concerned about customary fishing tools. Recent rohe moana gazetted – lots of uncertainty about what this means. Paul proposed that a day be set aside to get some customary input from the Far North. Need to educate people i.e. what a mätaitai is etc.

Action:

• Re-circulate information sheets that Stephanie Hill distributed on Maori fishing controls.
• Organise local iwi representatives/ experts on customary fishing tools to come and talk to the forum.

Graeme Heapy: Few boats out on water, good numbers of red rock lobsters, most have dropped egg. Good to see fisheries officers out on Saturday. Scallops are in good condition, nearly everyone happy that the recreational season has shifted. Comment on the ‘Outdoors with Geoff’ show: lobster were being caught with scuba and with paua clearly visible in background.

6. Scallop Code of Practice

Murray Bruges distributed copies of a draft Diving for Scallop code of practice. He outlined recent court rulings and explained that the courts interpretation had been written into the code. Murray requested that those with interest/knowledge on diving for scallops to provide feedback on the code of practice ASAP so MFish can publish it before summer.

Graeme commented that counting not just size was an issue if you can’t sort on the boat.

7. National meeting for non-commercial fishing forums.

Celina explained the background for the meeting. This year’s meeting will be held in November in Auckland and the organisers are currently seeking potential agenda items and nomination of two members per forum to attend the meeting. The forum has four members interested in attending the meeting, and these four will decide which two members will attend when the date is announced.

Suggestions were offered by the forum on potential agenda items:

• Recreational management of blue-fin off West Coast.
• More science on depleted stocks
• Bluenose/häpuka daily limits
• Whangarei Harbour water quality
• Education on customary management tools
• Snapper size limits/hook size
• Banning of gill netting

8. Compliance update

Darren Edwards gave the forum a compliance update. He noted that the scallop season had opened and that scallops were in good condition. There were approx. 100 boats inspected and only one major compliance issue arose. In this case two free divers had taken 124 scallops of which 84 were undersized. The forum agreed that this was unreasonable, and the compliance action was warranted. Darren then outlined Operation Paid which was a Wellington-based undercover operation to expose the illegal harvest and sale of paua. This operation was very successful in exposing and disrupting illegal trade in Paua. 71 people were apprehended and 283 charges have been laid.

Darren also advised that a local Russell man had been convicted at the Kaikohe District Court relating to the take of crayfish. There was suggestion by the forum that he was in fact not selling these crayfish. Darren advised that many of these lobsters were not of legal size and that some were in berry.

9. Close meeting

Murray thanked everyone for attending the meeting.