NORTHLAND Regional non-commercial Forum – Fourth Meeting
Date: 7 August 2006
Venue: Copthorne Hotel, Waitangi, Bay of Islands
Time: 4-9pm
Present:
- John Chibnall, Graeme Heapy, Geoff Stone, John Torr, Des Subritsky, Paul Batten, Doug McColl, Simon Howard, Graeme McGregor, Stephanie Hill, Todd Sylvester
Guests:
- Paul Haddon, Haeri Motu, Sonny Tau, Judah Heihei
Apologies:
- Richard Civil, Craig Worthington
Matters from previous meeting
MFish will ask the Northland Regional Council to attend the next appropriate meeting (which would be in Whangarei) to discuss water quality concerns.
TS presented information on the snapper tagging programme.
MFish presented information on baitfish. JH requested information on schoolfish eg. trevally.
The Group discussed the name of the Forum, and the preferred name was the “Northland Non-Commercial Fishing Forum”.
Meeting times: the Group considered that it could meet in the future on a Saturday (10-4), but suggested there could be a mix of meetings between Saturday and afternoon/evening meetings.
Possible amalgamation with the Hokianga Accord meetings
Some forum members suggested that these meetings could be amalgamated with the Hokianga Accord meetings because the fishers are all non-commercial fishers, whether Pakeha or Maori. Sonny outlined to the group his perspective that most of the time Maori are fishing under the general amateur regulations, rather than the specific customary fishing provisions.
There was discussion about the pros and cons of both formats (the Northland non-commercial fishing forum, and the Hokianga Accord). The groups also have slightly different functions. The Northland non-commercial forum has a limited number of members who have been appointed by the Chief Executive. The limited number of members means it is possible to fund transport costs etc. In comparison, the Hokianga Accord involves a lot more people, and may reach a wider audience.
Sonny sees the advantage of the Hokianga Accord meetings being that MFish senior managers attend; there are opportunities for Maori and other recreational fishers to work together; and Maori commercial fishers also attend the Accord. The Hokianga Accord meetings have senior MFish staff, plus senior recreational representatives and leaders who can refute or comment on the MFish view. Other members liked a short meeting for people who cannot afford 1-2 days for the Accord meetings. There are also advantages to having a set number of people, so that funding can be provided, and there is continuity between meetings.
The predominant view was that the groups should remain separate at this stage, but that meeting summaries should be exchanged between the groups, and the groups should keep in contact.
Agenda items: Pelagic Fisheries Management
MFish’s Pelagic Team has three people based in Auckland responsible for management of tuna species, pelagic sharks, kahawai, kingfish, and the small coastal pelagic species (pilchards, anchovy, jack mackerel, blue mackerel). The team is also involved in international fisheries management of highly migratory species. A key project is that NZ is obligated to produce an Action Plan for sharks (90 species); 30 species are commercially fished.
Fishers have commented that there has been a huge decrease in mako shark numbers over the last 10 years. Fishers also have significant concerns about swordfish because over the last three years, NZ has not been able to sustain the international interest in swordfish caught by tourists in NZ waters. Fishers also consider that the striped marlin fishery has declined over the last two years due to large numbers of Australian commercial longliners fishing just outside the NZ EEZ in northern waters.
Marlin
MFish noted that marlin species are managed as a “Highly Migratory Stock” in the western and central Pacific, but the management is weak as quotas are not used. Many of the pelagic international management agencies are in their infancy – the emphasis is on compiling the baseline scientific data. The exception is the SBT (southern bluefin tuna) Commission which has implemented international catch limits. The marlin catch on the High Seas is un-regulated, and marlins are mainly caught as a bycatch species; there will be no easy fixes under International Law – good management will take a while. Striped marlin cannot be landed by commercial fishers if caught in New Zealand waters.
Swordfish
Swordfish was initially targeted by Japanese commercial longliners in the 1970s, and was subsequently a bycatch fishery taken by New Zealand domestic longliners. Swordfish are managed as a single fishstock (termed SWO1) in NZ with a TAC of 919 tonnes, mainly comprised of a TACC of 885 tonnes. The SWO1 TACC was allocated on the basis of the catch history in 1990-92. However, very few fishers actually had any catch history during this period, so only a small amount of commercial quota was allocated using this mechanism. Instead, Cabinet agreed to conduct an open tender; all people making tenders had to fulfil the statutory requirements as the criteria for making a tender and there was no preference for existing fishers. The tender resulted in 8 successful tenders for 647 tonnes of quota.
Forum members discussed the possibility of having some areas closed to commercial longline fishing to protect swordfish in areas readily accessible to non-commercial fishers e.g. Poor Knights Rise. There was also discussion about New Zealand adopting a much more cautious management for swordfish. MFish noted that the Dispute Resolution Procedure prescribed by Part VII of the Fisheries Act 1996 is a tool for resolving the access issue to local fishing areas for swordfish.
It was noted that the domestic tuna commercial longline fleet has been reduced from around 300 to 100 boats, due to the introduction of many pelagic species into the QMS in recent years. Currently the swordfish TACC is under caught due to the restructuring of the commercial fleet. MFish wants to put more Observers on longlining boats.
Noted that a research programme will commence in late 2006 tagging swordfish with satellite tags to provide a better understanding of movement and migration patterns.
Fishers consider that swordfish populations will re-populate if given the opportunity. The New Zealand charterboat swordfish fishery has caught big sized fish (compared to other areas around the world) and international fishers are prepared to pay large amounts of money to catch swordfish eg. two Belgian fishers spent nearly $200k to catch two swordfish on charter boats. Fishers believe that swordfish are attracted into specific parts of the continental shelf to upwelling areas to feed on bluenose.
Shark finning
Fishers wanted to know when will shark finning cease? Other countries have stated that sharks must be landed whole.
The US has proposed a remit to Western Central Pacific Tuna Fisheries Commission that fishers have on board fins that total no more than 5% of the weight of sharks. MFish has noted the detail of this proposal, as a prohibition on finning is crudely defined and subject to loopholes. However, the issue will be addressed in the Action Plan for sharks: a draft is expected before the end of the year.
Fishers considered that the total allowable catch is not limiting the blue shark catch – it is a blue shark fishery with a tuna bycatch. The key will be to actually change the attitudes of the fishers. The overfishing problem is especially bad because most sharks are live bearing.
Pelagic sharks were put on the 6th Schedule of the Fisheries Act 1996, which means that sharks caught alive can be released. The QMS usually requires for quota species (eg. snapper, trevally) that all legal-sized fish (dead or alive) must be landed, and cannot be released or dumped.
Kingfish
Fishers were concerned with the minimum size limit for kingfish because research shows that females mature at 95cm. The size limit was initially set at 65cm in 1993, and then increased to 75cm in 2004 for amateur fishers to constrain catches to the recreational allowance.
MFish considers that current catch levels are sustainable. Further, it is not necessary to protect all breeding fish with a size limit, especially for quota species, as the total allowable catch is the primary tool used to ensure sustainability. In addition, one female kingfish can release many thousands of eggs, which if successfully fertilised would provide many recruits for the next year class.
A fisher noted that there were plenty of kingfish in the Bay of Islands, but most fish were small and there were very few good sized kingfish. It was thought that much of the kingfish recruitment into the Bay of Islands originated from outside the area.
MFish noted that kingfish have been put on the 6th schedule which means that commercial fishers can now release kingfish if alive; however, this provision does not apply to set netting as most kingfish caught in set nets are generally not alive when brought on board the boat.
The commercial sector has asked to have the size limit reduced for commercial fishers because kingfish is now a 6th schedule species; MFish is considering this as a possibility for reducing wastage. A tagging programme to tag kingfish to assess survivorship of released kingfish is proposed.
Shared Fisheries
MFish noted that it was likely that the Shared Fisheries public discussion paper would be released for public consultation in October with a 3-4 month consultation period. Submissions would be summarised in February-March with implementation in mid 2008.
There was discussion about the potential overlap between the shared fisheries policies and the upcoming kahawai legal challenge. The kahawai legal challenge was described as being all about better defining section 21 (section 21 of the Fisheries Act 1996 allocates the TAC between the sector groups). Fishers feared that MFish want to change the legislation to reduce the input of the non-commercial sector.
MFish noted that section 13 of the Act determined the overall size of the TAC for sustainability purposes. The allocation of the TAC between sectors was determined by section 21. The main purpose of the shared fisheries review is to better specify and provide criteria for TAC allocation to make the law more clear.
Aotea Marine Reserve
A fisher noted that the Auckland east and west coast Non-Commercial Forums have written a letter to the Minister objecting to the proposed Aotea (Great Barrier) Marine Reserve. It was suggested that the Northland Non-Commercial Forum should also write a letter objecting to the marine reserve.
Another fisher considered that marine reserves were not good management tools. Reserves do not protect against run-off, which can adversely affect the fisheries. Marine reserves will concentrate fishing effort. Maori have customary tools to protect the fishery so do not need marine reserves. Prefer that Maori can implement customary tools to protect the area, rather than allow a Government department to confiscate these fishing grounds.
An alternative view was that the Northland Forum should not dwell too much on this issue because the Great Barrier marine reserve is outside Northland waters and is the responsibility of the Hauraki Gulf Forum.
After further discussion, it was agreed that Forum members should take a copy of the letter sent to the Minister by the other Forums back to their individual groups to see if they want to also comment on the Aotea issue.
Recreational Regulations
Submissions close on the 8th September on the three proposals: clarify the definition of “take”, minimum size limits for red gurnard, trumpeter, and blue cod; shifting back the start and finish date of the scallop season by six weeks.
“Take”
Fishers recognised that there was a need to get the definition of “take” correct, so that the problem can be resolved for tagging and releasing.
Forum agreed that: undersize fish do not count in the bag limit; the bag limit only applies to the fish that are retained because high-grading is very rare; tagging and releasing should provide a specific defence.
Size limits
Fishers generally supported a size limit for red gurnard, but also wanted a 25cm size limit for the commercial sector. MFish noted that 98% of the gurnard measured by research interviewers on boat ramps are bigger than 25cm.
A fisher was concerned that the NZRFC has identified this relatively minor issue as a “top 10” issue.
Forum supported the size limit proposal for red gurnard; and supported reducing the blue cod size limit from 33 to 30cm because there are now more blue cod in Northland waters.
Scallop season
It was noted that generally scallops are not in good condition in July. Scallops can recover quickly after being overfished. It was also considered that the spawning late in the season was less important to the fishery, because the recruits were less likely to survive.
MFish noted that at the previous meeting Richard Civil had been opposed to the scallop season proposal.
It was thought that Kaipara fishers could support the scallop proposal.
The forum agreed with changing the scallop season, and noted this would be likely to increase recreational take, and therefore the recreational scallop allowance might need reviewing.
Meeting closed: 9pm