Editorial: Respect each other on water

Callum Blackburn with snapper found off Whangarei.

Shona Keoghan's letter today raises an interesting point. Commercial fishers annoy recreational fishers when they are both competing for fish in the same area. But what do we do about it? No one denies there is tension between recreational and commercial fishers.

It sounds like last week's snapper spillage off Whangarei was accidental. But the sight of big, healthy snapper floating belly up in the sea is hard for many recreational fishers to stomach.

In my case, I tend to fish within the Whangarei Harbour.

So when I see fish I only dream of catching, floating dead in the water, am I going to feel good about that? Accident or not, no.

For me, the spill reinforced the ease with which commercial vessels catch big numbers of fish.

Should I be encouraged by the fact that in the middle of winter, when snapper are supposedly scarce, commercial vessels are finding tonnes of them?

Or should I worry whether our fishery can sustain this level of fishing?

Commercial fishers are sometimes painted as the "bad guys" but they are out there earning a legal living using quotas that, well, for me, this is where it gets murky. Like many recreational fishers, I only have a rough understanding of how quotas are calculated and divided up per region.

I'd welcome input from readers who can shed light on this.

A survey was done a few years back, measuring the snapper fishery. I didn't pay much attention to it, the ocean is a large place, and good luck to anyone trying to estimate species numbers down there. Personally, I fished the Whangarei Harbour this year and at, let's call it peak season, some of the fishing was ridiculously easy - you could catch your limit in an hour, 100m off the shore.

And not a commercial fisher in sight. Recreational and commercial fishers need to get along. As a recreational fisher, I sincerely hope our fishery is big enough for both parties to share.

Because if we discover one day it's not, it's not going to be the recreational fishos blamed for its demise.