Crackdown finds excess fishing is rife

By SCOTT MacLEOD


Fishing enthusiasts caught in a weekend crackdown on catch restrictions say the skippers of some charter boats on the Hauraki Gulf are encouraging illegal fishing.

Ministry of Fisheries staff who searched more than 200 cars and boats at a Whangaparaoa roadblock at the weekend found at least 30 people with undersized fish or more fish than they were allowed.

Half said they had been on charter boats and had been told they could catch more than their individual legal limit of nine snapper because other people on board had caught fewer.

But this concept of a "boat limit" is illegal, and most of the fishers using that excuse were hit with fines of at least $250.

Fisheries spokesman Mike Rose said that if the reports about charter operators were true, it was very disappointing and that it was impossible for a charter operator to not know the rules about limits.

"They're saying it's okay to catch 10 to 18 when it's not," Mr Rose said. "They should know better and they do know better."

The Herald was present yesterday when three men pulled over in a car were found to have 33 snapper, when the maximum under the individual limit of nine each was 27.

The men said they had come from a charter boat and that some of the snapper belonged to other people from the boat who were travelling separately in a van.

One of the men, who was given a $250 fine, offered up the name of a charter boat mentioned by other illegal fishers on Saturday.

The boat's skipper, who would not be named, said he always counted how many fish were caught on his vessel.

However, people often fished in groups, throwing their catches into one chilly-bin. "I have no control over who takes what."

A district compliance manager for Fisheries, Matt Cowan, said people caught with up to 13 snapper had named four or five Gulf Harbour charter boats.

Fisheries staff would visit the owners of those boats today and tomorrow to hammer home the rules.

Mr Cowan said he would also seek legal advice today on the actions of the charter operators.

He said Fisheries was using "a tolerance of pretty much zero unless you have a very good excuse".

This was confirmed when Fisheries' first catch yesterday was a woman with five snapper, one of which was just 0.5cm short of the 27cm limit.

The woman, Suzanne McLean of Orewa, was given a $250 fine.

"Our measure must be wrong because we're careful as a rule," said the 52-year-old. "We threw all the little ones back."

One fisher caught on Saturday could be fined up to $10,000 after being found with more than three times the legal limit of 50 cockles.

The Whangaparaoa checkpoint, dubbed Operation Hammerhead, was the second under a crackdown that started late last year.

Yesterday, 15 honorary fishery officers, five fulltimers and six police staffed the checkpoint.

The police officers also checked for car roadworthiness and drunkenness.

Acting Sergeant Mike Rickards said that by yesterday afternoon no one had been caught drunk.


LEGAL LIMITS

Finfish limits a person for Northland, Auckland, Waikato and most of the Bay of Plenty:

20 fish, of which 15 can be snapper (but only nine can be snapper if caught between North Cape and Cape Runaway). Six of the 20 can be eels.

In addition to the 20 above, you can take five groper, hapuka, bass or kingfish (maximum of three kingfish) and 30 grey mullet.