A crowd estimated at more than 500 packed an upstairs lounge at Toll Stadium in Whangarei on Tuesday night to discuss proposals which could see the daily bag limit for snapper recreational fishers' catch off Northland's east coast cut from nine to three.
"It was standing room only. The whole place was rocking," said Trish Rea, who was with a LegaSea team from Auckland, which organised the Whangarei meeting and a similar gathering at Kaikohe on Monday.
LegaSea opposes reductions in the recreational catch proposed as options in a Ministry for Primary Industries management review of the snapper fishery between Cape Reinga and East Cape.
She and Scott Macindoe of Auckland, and Paul Barnes of Whangarei, addressed the meeting and answered questions from the floor.
Ms Rea told the Advocate the ministry needed to target wastage of juvenile snapper by commercial trawlers before reducing recreational size and bag limits.