Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

New net gives small fry a chance

By Roger Moroney
Hawkes Bay Today·
28 Mar, 2015 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

CATCHING ON: Ngahiwi Tomoana (left), Ngati Kahungunu chairman, explains to Napier Mayor Bill Dalton how the new nets work. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

CATCHING ON: Ngahiwi Tomoana (left), Ngati Kahungunu chairman, explains to Napier Mayor Bill Dalton how the new nets work. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

Hawke's Bay Seafoods and Ngati Kahungunu have embarked on a unique conservation-driven partnership to help preserve the Bay's fish resources for generations to come.

As Ngati Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana put it - "this is a turning point because it is going to leave a lot more fish in the sea".

It is a New Zealand first - where a major fisheries company has linked in with local iwi to ensure smaller fish which became trapped in traditional nets are now able to escape, and survive, rather than become a wasted by-catch.

The idea is as ingenious as it is simple, and has been trialled over the past year by several fishermen throughout the country - including one of the Bay's most experienced skippers, Rick Burch.

But Hawke's Bay is the only region to take a unified approach to using them.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Another trawling veteran of the seas, Mike Terry, has also been one of the first to get it aboard his trawler, the Atlantic Dawn.

The innovative nets use elements first trialled three years ago in Denmark and Mr Burch found that by changing the net from the traditional diamond shape and moving it 90 degrees to a more square shape meant the smaller round-profiled species, such as gurnard, red cod, kahawai and rig, could escape more easily through the wider open mesh.

Some independent research has shown that about 80 per cent of smaller unwanted fish can escape the nets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Mr Tomoana said Ngati Kahungunu were committed to conservation, and provided funding to help support Mr Burch's project.

The link to adopt the more conservation-focused nets was then made with Hawke's Bay Seafood, which leases the inshore fishing quota from the iwi.

Dave Wakefield, the vessel manager for the company, was keen to embrace the idea, as was company director Nino D'Esposito.

"The family started fishing here in 1920 and I'm third generation, and we want to preserve it (the fishery)," Mr D'Esposito said.

Discover more

HB Fishing club to plead its case with council

07 Apr 11:00 PM

Student applauded for research

13 Apr 01:40 AM

"We want to keep it sustainable and we also want to work in with recreational fishermen."

The company had converted five of its eight trawlers to long-liners which he said was also "eco-friendly" and the adoption of the new nets complemented that.

The eight trawlers, and others contracted to Hawke's Bay Seafoods, will all use the new nets.

"And our company will pay for the boats that are contracted to us to get the nets."

That cost was estimated to be around $50,000.

Mr Tomoana said he hoped the initiative would be a trend-setter for the whole fishing industry across the country.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I've been out there in the bay and seen the small fish packed into the ends of the nets - this gives them the opportunity to get out."

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said he recently attended a meeting of recreational fishers who believed the fisheries were "raping the resources".

"But clearly, through initiatives like this, you are being responsible."

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule also applauded the move, while Napier MP Stuart Nash said it was now vital to convince everyone else who fished the waters to use the new nets.

"We are leading the way here and we need to get them to follow suit."

Ikaroa Rawhiti MP Meka Whaititi agreed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Good ideas and good initiatives like this come from places like Hawke's Bay."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

First XV rugby: Napier Boys' defeat Hamilton Boys' in comeback thriller

23 Jun 12:29 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Cheap food boxes in Hawke’s Bay, if you attend cooking and growing workshops

22 Jun 10:12 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

On The Up: The Hawke's Bay disability fitness programme making national waves

22 Jun 09:48 PM

How a Timaru mum of three budding chefs stretched her grocery shop

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

First XV rugby: Napier Boys' defeat Hamilton Boys' in comeback thriller

First XV rugby: Napier Boys' defeat Hamilton Boys' in comeback thriller

23 Jun 12:29 AM

Napier Boys' High School First XV mounted a thrilling come-from-behind victory.

Cheap food boxes in Hawke’s Bay, if you attend cooking and growing workshops

Cheap food boxes in Hawke’s Bay, if you attend cooking and growing workshops

22 Jun 10:12 PM
On The Up: The Hawke's Bay disability fitness programme making national waves

On The Up: The Hawke's Bay disability fitness programme making national waves

22 Jun 09:48 PM
Crowds of up to 15,000 at Matariki fires on Hawke's Bay beaches

Crowds of up to 15,000 at Matariki fires on Hawke's Bay beaches

22 Jun 02:35 AM
Anzor’s East Tāmaki hub speeds supply
sponsored

Anzor’s East Tāmaki hub speeds supply

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP