Compilers and publishers Duncan Chisholm and Don Armitage have written True Tales of New Zealand Fisheries Officers. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Compilers and publishers Duncan Chisholm and Don Armitage have written True Tales of New Zealand Fisheries Officers. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A reunion of former New Zealand Fisheries staff in Whangārei pre-Covid led to the making of True Tales of NZ Fisheries Officers, revealing the adventures at the sea by nearly 30 individual writers.
After 18 months in the making, compilers Don Armitage and Duncan Chisholm were to launch the bookyesterady at the Mangawhai Club.
This is the 22nd book in the True Tales library and is a collection of around 100 true stories from past and present fisheries officers, honorary fisheries officers, and former Navy and Air Force personnel who had the powers of fisheries officers.
Of the 100 stories, more than 15 are from Whangārei.
The stories traversed the wide range of duties officers perform, from chasing shellfish poachers to nabbing trawlers fishing in prohibited areas to apprehending foreign fishing vessels fishing illegally inside our waters, said Chisholm.
"Much of the content is exciting, wild, often dangerous and sometimes amusing, and the book is full of photographs."
The tales covered the period from 1866 until recent times and highlight the wide and everchanging role of a fisheries officer, coming as they did under a variety of Government ministries.
Armitage said the fisheries offences were often away from the public eye – at night, in remote areas, at sea, and usually were not widely reported.
"Much of what went on, and is revealed in these stories, will be eye-opening to many readers.
"Fisheries offences are in many cases quite different from police and other offences.
"For example, in fishing in closed areas and excess quota offences, there is usually only one chance for officers to catch offenders. They must be caught actually fishing or have excess quota with them or the moment is gone.
Don Armitage. Photo / Michael Cunningham
"These moments when offenders are confronted, often in remote locations with little chance of back-up, and what happened next, provide the catalyst for many of the tales in this book."
Senior fishery officer Henry Ihaka from Whangarei also contributed a few stories.
He said he had not met Armitage and Chisholm before, but knew who they were from his colleagues and other staff.
"When I got the phone call, I knew exactly who I was talking to. That is the kind of connection the organisation has."
With regards to the changes the organisation had undergone in terms of enforcement, Ihaka said one of the things that underpinned their monitoring of commercial fleets was they now have a tracking system.
"All commercial fishing vessels operating on New Zealand waters have GPS tracking and we know within minutes where the vessel is.
"They are also required to submit regular reports of the fishing, so at any stage, the reports should be consistent with the fish they have on the vessel. It is a slightly different way of enforcing and policing."
They still patrolled using Navy vessels and worked closely with the Air Force, but they also had access to bigger tools in the toolbox now, which came handy, said Ihaka.
"Other than that, the scene of the fishery hasn't changed that much per se."
As of April this year, the Ministry for Primary Industries employed 116 full-time fishery officers and has a committed group of 180 honorary fishery officers who patrol NZ coastlines.
On average, fishery officers conduct around 40,000 inspections across each compliance action (warning, infringements and prosecutions) which encouraged and demonstrated the majority of people accessing our fisheries do the right thing and follow the rules.
