Fish Wars

The NZ Government through the Ministry of Primary Industry is in the process of reviewing the snapper catch limits laid down for commercial and recreational fishermen.

Commercial fishing in NZ is largely run by Sanfords who feel it is their right to make huge amounts of money from commercial fishing. They take our fish from the sea in order to export it for financial gain. They have some rights to do this but not at the expense of the fish stocks and the community of New Zealand who relish the opportunity to fish for recreation.

The debate at the moment is around the measures to be put in place to preserve the future sustainability of fish stocks in our waters. The government wishes to review the recreational catch limits both in size and volume whilst making minimal changes to commercial fishing quotas and practices. Commercial netting and seining catch large volumes of fish of all sizes. With nets they are allowed to take snapper as small as 25 cm yet recreational fishermen using a line and hook must not take anything less than 27 cm with a bag limit of 9.

The government is threatening to ask recreational fishermen to reduce their bag limit to 3 and the minimum size to somewhere between 27 and 35cm. Higher bag limits are an option but the size limit goes up to 35 cm minimum.

I was out at a public meeting to defend the rights of recreational fishermen but also to determine in my own mind what sacrifices recreational fishermen should make and what sacrifices commercial fishermen should make in order to retain fish stocks and the freedom to fish successfully for future generations.