MFish Update “He pänui”

Northern Region April 2007

Minister to consider kahawai fishery decision

The Judge’s findings in the kahawai court case mean decisions around catch limits and allocations in the kahawai fishery will have to be reconsidered, says Minister of Fisheries Jim Anderton.

The recent court case came through both recreational and commercial fishers being unhappy about how the previous Minister of Fisheries set catch levels for kahawai in 2004 and 2005.

Jim Anderton says much of the hearings have been taken up with issues of procedure and information, but the heart of the issue has always been the question of “who gets the fish?”

“There’s been a lot of passion around this case, with both groups of fishers challenging the previous Minister’s decisions,” says Jim Anderton. “The judge’s ruling is that the catch limits and allocations made for kahawai will have to be reconsidered."

“I’ve requested advice from my Ministry and Crown Law on how best to proceed."

“The government is currently considering submissions on new policies that should spell out how fisheries that are important to both recreational and commercial fishers should be shared,” Jim Anderton says.

“The challenge before us is to manage these fisheries in a way that ensures all New Zealanders get as much value as possible from them; not only today, but into the future.”

Fisheries amendment to favour sustainability

The Government is proposing to change fisheries legislation to make decisions made under the Fisheries Act more cautious and favour sustainability when there is little or poor information.

The current ambiguity was one of the many issues in a recent High Court action, initiated by fishing industry interests around sustainability measures introduced in a North Island orange roughy fishery.

The Fisheries Act 1996 Amendment Bill can be viewed at http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Legislation/Bills/d/9/4/d94367eb9b6b40f28219e174909fe198.htm

Changes to recreational regulations

The Minister has made decisions about changes to some of the regulations that apply to recreational fishing. Most changes will be implemented by 1 April 2007.

Recreational bag limits

• The amateur regulations will be clarified to indicate that the recreational daily bag limit only applies to fish taken of legal size.
• The amateur regulations will be amended so the daily bag limit does not apply to finfish returned immediately to the waters from which they were taken and that are likely to survive. To minimise any mortality associated with releasing fish, the Minister has directed MFish to develop and distribute fish handling guidelines.
• Any fish that are tagged and released as part of a recognised tagging programme will not count towards recreational fishers’ daily bag limits.

Changes in recreational size limits

• Red Gurnard – a 25 cm minimum legal size (MLS) will be put in place. At the local level, especially in predominantly recreational fishery areas, a MLS is likely to contribute to an improved quality of fishing for red gurnard in the longer term.
• Trumpeter – a 35 cm MLS will be put in place for trumpeter until more reliable information on size at maturity is available for New Zealand stocks.
• Blue Cod – the blue cod MLS will reduce from 33 cm to 30 cm in BCO 1, which is a more biologically appropriate size in this area.

Recreational Scallop Season

The Minister has agreed to shift the scallop season by six weeks in the area from North Cape to Cape Runway. The new season will be from 1 September to 31 March. The new arrangements will take effect from 1 September 2007.

The existing seasons throughout the rest of the country will remain unchanged. The Minister noted specific concerns about the sustainability of scallops in north-west fisheries were raised during consultation on this issue. The Minister has directed MFish to consult on refining the recreational scallop season for the north-west coast.

Regulation 19A

In December 2005, the amateur regulations were amended to allow divers to take up to two extra bag limits of scallops or dredge oysters when safety people are on board their vessel. The way the regulations were amended had an unforeseen consequence, where even slightly exceeding the daily bag limit was classified as a serious non-commercial offence. The amendment ensures that when a diver takes less than three times their individual entitlement under r19A when safety people are on board their vessel, it is not considered to automatically be a serious non-commercial offence.

White pointer shark protected

White pointer shark are now protected under the Wildlife Act 1953. It will be an offence to take this species from 1 April 2007.

Possession of live catfish banned

The Fisheries Act 1996 contains obligations to ensure that the use of a species do not affect the values associated with the aquatic environment, or the use of other species. The possession of live catfish by a range of people can increase the risk of new catfish populations being established in waterways that do not have this introduced species. To further this aim, amateur fishing regulations have been amended so that there is a requirement to kill all catfish on capture, such that only dead catfish may be possessed. The Minister of Fisheries also supports the development of a Code of Practice to minimise the risk that catfish are accidentally retained. The Ministry of Fisheries is likely to co-ordinate the development of such a code of practice amongst a number of interested groups during the 2007 calendar year.

Commercial eel fishery maximum size limit

Further measures to improve the sustainability of freshwater eels are being introduced from 1 April 2007. A maximum size limit of four kilograms will apply to commercial fishers taking eels from the North Island and Chatham Island. The same maximum size limit has already been introduced for eels taken by commercial fishers in the South Island.

The regulation will protect large eels due to make their journey to the sea for breeding. This measure should allow more eels to breed and keep the stock sustainable. People fishing for customary and recreational purposes will still be allowed to take eels over four kilograms, but the Ministry of Fisheries is keen to hear if people fishing for these purposes think the maximum size limit should also apply to them in the future.

Consultation on draft ‘standards’ continues

Standards are currently being developed to help provide clear guidelines for stakeholders about minimum levels of performance needed to support credible fisheries management. This work is on-going. Three draft standards have been released for submission:

• A harvest strategy standard that relates to the stock size of fisheries managed in the quota management system. The standard outlines a more cautious approach for managing fisheries to ensure sustainability;
• A consultation standard that sets out how MFish will meet minimum requirements for consultation under s.12 of the Fisheries Act 1996;
• A QMS introduction standard that outlines how decisions will be made about introducing further species into the quota management system.

The deadline for making a submission has been extended to 26 April 2007.

‘Shared fisheries’

Shared fisheries are those in which commercial, amateur and customary fishers all participate. The time period for making submissions on a discussion paper that outlined management options for shared fisheries has now passed (please see Shared Fisheries for a copy of the discussion paper).

MFish will consider the submissions made, carry out further study, and develop recommendations for the Government. This process will involve working with other government departments to ensure that a consistent and coherent approach is taken. Cabinet is expected to make final decisions in mid-2007.

‘Bigfish’ project

The aim of bigfish is to record local sightings of whale sharks, basking sharks, white pointers (great white sharks) and devil and manta rays. The project is based around the web site www.bigfish.net.nz.

Sightings guides and information posters are available online.

Science working groups

Each year at this time the Ministry of Fisheries holds science working group meetings to report back on research that has been done for particular fisheries. These meetings are open for anyone to attend. A series of ‘plenary’ sessions are then held in May, at which a Plenary Report is produced that outlines the state of fish stocks. The results of the plenary are used as one source of information to support the development of advice to the Minister of Fisheries about what fishstocks should be looked at for changes to management measures to ensure sustainability.

Working group meetings for 2007 include:

Shellfish	12 April	Auckland
Pelagic	13 April	Auckland
Plenary	1-4 May	Wellington

Customary forums

Tangata whenua from broad geographic areas in the upper North Island and representatives from the Ministry of Fisheries met every few months to discuss topical fisheries issues and provide a means for better input and participation in Ministry of Fisheries processes.

Meetings include:

Te Hiku o te Ika	28 March	Kaitaia
Nga Hapu o te Uru	3 April	Ministry of Fisheries office, Hamilton
Te Ika a Maui Freshwater Forum	17 April	Tangatarua Marae, Rotorua
Mai i Nga Kuri Wharei ki Tihirau	7 May	Bay of Plenty - venue to be advised