northland non-commercial fishing Forum – sixth Meeting

Date: Wednesday 28^th February 2007

Venue: Scenic Circle Bay of Islands Hotel, Paihia

Time: 4:00 – 9:00pm

Draft meeting summary

Present:

• Des Subritzky, John Torr, John Holdsworth, Simon Howard, Graeme Heapy, Stephanie Hill, John Taunton-Clark, Darren Edwards

Apologies:

• Todd Sylvester (on leave for first half of year), Doug McColl, John Chibnall, Paul Batten, Geoff Stone, Craig Worthington (can no longer attend forum meetings)

Meeting summary/actions

Meeting summary from 14^th November 2006 was confirmed. There was an update on actions arising from that meeting.

Comments: water quality – forum members noted current problems with biotoxins in mussels in the inner Bay of Islands. The health department undertakes routine monitoring, and it is not a key MFish focus or role.

MFish updates

Bulletin

The MFish bulletin update was presented. Key topics were:

• Seaweek (4-11 March 2007)
• Shared fisheries consultation – ends 28 February 2007
• Fisheries amendment to favour sustainability
• Changes to recreational regulations
• Consultation on draft standards
• Inter-tidal shellfish management
• Bigfish project
• Science working groups
• New Year’s honours for Les Curtin

Discussion:

Support for the amendment to the Fisheries Act, which was recognised as a way of applying more of a precautionary approach to fisheries management decisions.

Commendation to the communications team for advertising changes to the recreational regulations – they were noted in a farming magazine.

Shellfish harvesting: Des re-iterated his concerns about harvesting of tuatua and toheroa on west coast beaches. He noted heavy harvesting pressure on tuatua on Ripiro Beach. There was debate about the purpose of the bag limit, and what level is reasonable. For some, the bag limit should be based on what the stock can sustain, while others observe that 50 is plenty for a feed. There was also discussion about likely causes where shellfish beds appear to have declined – whether or not harvest or freshwater run-off has affected the beds, or beds have shifted. There was agreement that such resources need to be managed at a fairly small scale (e.g. through customary tools, or through fisheries plans). It was noted that the group could propose research on tuatua stocks through the research planning process, and also suggest beaches to be included in the on-going intertidal research project.

Glossary

Copies of fisheries management and customary fishing terms were distributed.

• Feedback/comment is welcome (e.g. additional terms that would be useful to include).

Compliance - Darren Edwards (District Compliance Manager, Whangarei)

Discussion about accumulated bag limits of bluenose and hapuku on some charter boats. There was concern that some charter boats with large storage capacity can take substantial volumes of bluenose (combined bag limit of 20) and hapuku (bag limit of 5) over the course of a longer fishing trip. This type of fishing could potentially lead to localised depletion of these stocks. There are also some anecdotal concerns about possible blackmarket activity. Potential options for addressing the issue were discussed, including via the on-going review of recreational regulations; feeding it into the Ministry’s general prioritisation process for review; or developing voluntary approach for charter boats fishing in the Three Kings. One approach could be limited accumulation of bag limits, as allowed for in Fiordland. The management goal would need to be clear (e.g. whether there is an overall sustainability problem, or localised depletion is more of a problem). It was agreed that it wasn’t appropriate at this stage to address through regulation review. Catch data from charter boats could be useful to help define the problem better (i.e. whether localised depletion is occurring).

Bigfish project

Information on the Bigfish project was distributed. The project is aimed at collecting sightings and distribution information on various species such as whale sharks, white pointers, basking sharks, and rays.

Actions from MFish updates:

• Provide information on the Adopt-a-beach project for shellfish monitoring
• Keep group up to date on research planning process for shellfish so they can provide input (e.g. need for tuatua research)

Members’ updates

• GH: 90-mile Beach surfcasting competition had very poor results for snapper (only around 12 snapper caught over 5 days fishing, with about 500 anglers). An abandoned commercial gill net was found at Matai Bay, which Graeme estimated held about 2 tonnes of fish (2-3 days old), as well as 30-40 crayfish. Overall, it had been a fairly good summer although slow to start with. Packhorse crays abundant at Cape Karikari. Recreational pressure is very high in Northland, with fishing tournaments occurring almost weekly (although some target pelagic fish rather than inshore stocks).
• SH: agreed there was substantial recreational pressure, and would like to see boats registered to try and gain more information (by proxy) on numbers of fishers. Noted that Maritime NZ’s approach was to favour education rather than registration e.g. by encouraging individuals to join clubs. Snapper fishing very good in shallows at Bay of Islands. Kingfish prolific out on the coast, in the 65-73cm size range, with a lot of juveniles inshore. Crays not good – need to go further offshore to get them, and many just legal sized. Kahawai still not prolific.
• JH: updated on satellite tagging research. 7 Pacific bluefins were tagged off Greymouth in August. Tags were returned from the Three Kings and off Oamaru. Water temperature information indicated the latter fish had gone round North Cape. 4 tags had not been returned. 12 broadbills were also tagged with satellite tags. Some of the fish had travelled extensively, e.g. up to New Caledonia and back, down Wanganella Banks. The information will be used to feed into a stock assessment model. Of particular importance are questions about where they spawn, and whether or not fish return to NZ waters. Work is also being done on striped marlin using tail tags, and experimenting with their use of magnetic fields for navigation. JH also noted snapper fishing had been poor at Tutukaka.
• JT: kahawai schooling at Bream Bay and big and fat, but not off Tutukaka. A lot of boats around, including round the perimeters of the reserve in Whangarei Harbour (Passage Island). Snapper patchy in the harbour. Proposal for an aquaculture management area in area where snapper fishing is good. Blue cod abundant.
• DS: More gurnard than snapper available in the Kaipara. ‘Torpedoes’ setting longlines being seen more frequently on the coast. Trying to get safe anchorages recognised as sites where aquaculture management areas cannot occur.

Other agenda items

Bag limits for bluenose and hapuku

Discussed above.

Fisheries standards

Summaries of the 3 draft standards were distributed and discussed. There was general support for making the government’s ‘bottom lines’ clearer via the harvest strategy standard. There was also general support for the approach outlined in the consultation standard.

Actions:

• Note support of forum members present at the meeting for the consultation standard (as summarised in the document provided)
• Send group link to Ministry of Fisheries’ ‘Status of New Zealand Fisheries’ website: http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/SOF/default.htm This website was used during the meeting to provide biological and catch information on various species.
• QMS introduction standard: provide information on how highly migratory species fit in with the standard.
• John Holdsworth to coordinate a response from the forum on the harvest strategy standard

MFish team structure and management approach for fisheries plans

Brief update given on changes to the inshore team, and in particular the division into a team with an east coast focus (manager: John Taunton-Clark) and a team with a west coast focus (manager: Sarah Omundsen). The changes were linked to the key fisheries plans that will be developed for the northern area, including a north-east inshore finfish plan, and a west coast inshore finfish plan.

Next meeting:

End of May.

Location: Whangarei

Action:

• Bring spare travel claim forms.

Agenda item for next meting:

• Review of role and effectiveness of the forum (i.e. what’s working, what we could do better etc)