MFish Update “He pänui”

Northern Region August 2006

Kingfish go Wild!

Recently, in an initiative started by the NZ Recreational Fishing Council and subsequently assisted by a cross section of fishing interests – including the Minister of Fisheries, MFish, NIWA, and Sanford Limited – 1100 small kingfish were released into the Hauraki Gulf in the vicinity of the Noises. This was the first of several releases of around 20,000 kingfish in northern waters.

All of the kingfish came from a failed farming venture. It was possible to tag a reasonable number – something previously not possible with fish this small. The tags should provide valuable information on the growth and movement of fish this size. One tag has already been returned.

Ohiwa Harbour and Mt Maunganui Temporary Closed Areas

Minister of Fisheries Jim Anderton has agreed to renew the temporary closures of green-lipped mussel beds in Ohiwa Harbour and at Mt Maunganui. At Ohiwa the closure provides statutory support for a local traditional rähui over the area.

"The Ohiwa mussel beds are an important resource for the people of Te Runanga O Ngatï Awa and Upokorehe Hapu of Whakatohea." Jim Anderton says. "These beds have become depleted in recent years, and this has affected the ability of tangata whenua to take these shellfish for customary purposes."

The previous closure on taking green-lipped mussels from Ohiwa Harbour ran between December 2003 and December 2005, and was established under section 186A of the Fisheries Act.

However, the harbour's mussel beds are still depleted and have not yet recovered to a level where harvest would be sustainable. So the people of Te Runanga O Ngatï Awa and Upokorehe Hapu of Whakatohea extended their traditional rähui over harvesting from the beds and the Minister has closed the beds to harvesting for a further 2 years, beginning on July 21.

The situation is much the same at Mt Maunganui, and once again the Minister has decided to extend the closure, this time for 15 months, also starting on 21 July.

October Review of Sustainability Measures & Other Management Controls 2006

The July Bulletin summarised the items that the Ministry is reviewing at present. Submissions on the sustainability review closed on 31 July. MFish is now preparing final advice for the Minister during August, with decisions due to be announced in September, prior to the start of the fishing year on 1 October.

Regulatory Round

MFish is also reviewing whether to make the following proposed changes in fisheries regulations that are applicable in the northern North Island:

• Proposal to update guidelines for the setting and varying of deemed values used for balancing commercial catch at the end of a fishing year;
• Freshwater Eels – proposal to apply the South Island commercial eel maximum size limit (4 kgs) nationwide;
• Fifth Schedule – proposal to review species on the Fifth Schedule, which allows for 45% aggregation of quota shares;
• Inshore trawl form – proposal for a new form to replace existing inshore trawl catch and effort returns to provide better information;
• Catfish – final advice following earlier consultation on proposals to prohibit the possession of live catfish by recreational and/or commercial fishers (Note: Final advice paper to be released the same time as the above items final advice papers. The initial position paper and consultation was previously carried out in 2004).

Closing date for submissions on these proposals is 25 August 2006.

Review of Recreational Regulations Round 2: 2006

The Ministry is also inviting comment on a further set of proposed changes to the regulations that apply to recreational fishing. They are:

• Whether undersize fish/ fish larger than minimum size/ tagged fish should be allowed to be taken and then released without being counted as part of a fisher’s daily bag limit;
• Introduce/change minimum legal sizes for:
• Gurnard – to 25cm
• Trumpeter – to 45cm
• Blue cod – to 30cm in the North Island
• Change the scallop season to begin on 1 September and end on 31 March (current season is 15 July – 14 February)

Closing date for submissions on these proposals is 8 September

Shared Fisheries Policy

The Shared Fish Project is aiming to provide more certainty to all fishers on how Total Allowable Catches will be allocated to customary, commercial and recreational fishers, in fisheries such as snapper that are “shared” between all three sectors. Subject to gaining Cabinet approval MFish is aiming to release a discussion document outlining ways that this could be done in mid-late August. After this the Ministry will be undertaking a series of activities to facilitate consultation, including:

• Posting the discussion document on the MFish website and providing a submission facility;
• Posting and emailing out the discussion document to a wide range of fishing organisations and individuals;
• Meeting with iwi and recreational forum groups during September/October;
• Holding public meetings in main centres during October/November.

A four-month consultation period on the discussion document is planned.

Consultation papers on the web

All of the papers that the Ministry is currently consulting on as part of the regulation reviews are available on the new Ministry of Fisheries website, at:

MFish Consultations section 

This site also lists everything that’s coming up for consultation in the next few months (including the Shared Fisheries proposals), so you can have a look and ask for any papers on issues that you would like to know more about.

There are also links to other pages including:

• The Status of New Zealand's Fisheries : created to inform the public about the sustainability of New Zealand's fisheries;
• Nabis : provides spatial & visual representations of our marine biological & fisheries management data;
• Starfish : a teacher & student resource with lots of information about New Zealand’s Fisheries

To view go to: http://www.fish.govt.nz

Coromandel scallops fish plan

A draft version of the fish plan MFish and stakeholders have been working on cooperatively over the last 8 months was sent to the Minister for his information last month. More work has yet to be done to both confirm objectives for this fishery, and prioritise some of the suggested tools for better achieving them. Most stakeholders who have been involved have found that it is good to get around the table and talk with other sector groups, but they emphasise that it does require a lot of time and work from them. However, some innovative approaches are starting to be discussed, so it looks like the hard work from stakeholders should pay off in a better-managed fishery.

Hokianga Accord hui

Ministry staff including the National Manager Fisheries Operations, an inshore team member and Pou Hononga (relationship managers) recently attended a hui at the friendly Naumai Marae in Ruawai. Topics discussed included customary management tools (mätaitai reserves and taiäpure-local fisheries); marine protected areas (with attendance of several Department of Conservation staff); fisheries plans; and shared fisheries. The packed agenda led to some interesting discussions on a range of topics. As always, the Hokianga Accord hui was well-attended by recreational fishers as well as tangata whenua.

Gurnard with Blisters

A member of one of the recreational forums has reported finding quite a few gurnard with unpleasant-looking blisters. While their appearance may make them not especially tempting to eat, this is not a disease or something caused by pollution. Rather it is a natural event that can occur around this time of year, possibly linked in some way to water temperatures starting to rise.