Fishers say DoC's tactics unfair

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

A fishing lobby has accused the Department of Conservation of using unfair tactics to build support for a controversial marine reserve at Great Barrier Island.

The plan, if approved, would create a 52,000ha reserve off limits to recreational fishers and be the first to stretch out to the 12-mile limit.

DoC has run public notices in the local Barrier Bulletin for meetings over the reserve and sent pamphlets to the island's 1000 or so residents.

But the lobby group Option 4, formed two years ago to oppose possible introduction of licensing for recreational fishers, says this deliberately ignores the interests of the wider region.

The group has taken out newspaper advertisements attacking the department's public notification process over the proposal.

Spokesman Scott Macindoe said having DoC in charge of the marine reserve plan was "like having a rabbit in charge of the lettuce patch".

"There have been no public notices for Aucklanders. Instead, DoC has put its resources into a place with a tiny population," Mr Macindoe said. "This is a department out of control."



DoC said this year that it was considering a marine reserve off the northeast coast of Great Barrier.

If the "area of interest" drawn up was gazetted as a marine reserve, it would dwarf all others and be the first to extend to the 12-mile limit.

Auckland's conservation boss, Rob McCallum, said DoC staff had been satisfied with the support the proposal had attracted.

Recreational fishers were mistaken about the process his department was required to go through under the Marine Reserves Act and DoC had not even begun the formal process.

It was still deciding what the final proposal would look like.

"The recreational fishers have their view on this but it's not the only view," Mr McCallum said.

"They are trying very hard to show they are affected by a marine reserve that requires several hours' motoring to get to.

"But 98.5 per cent of the Hauraki Gulf is not under protection and to claim your fishing is being affected is stretching a long bow."

DoC staff had attended countless meetings, sometimes at the invitation of interested parties, had distributed 9000 "consultation documents" and had been talking to Barrier residents and local iwi for six months.

Mr McCallum said consultation was often a matter of "damned if you do and damned if you don't".

"You don't want to engage in the statutory process when you don't have any idea where is a good place to have the lines on the map."

The reserve had strong support from Great Barrier Islanders, who would have the biggest say in whether it went ahead, he said.

And the formal process to gazette the reserve was at least a year away.

The department appears to be on a collision course with fishers over marine reserves.

This month, two frozen possums wrapped in DoC questionnaires on the reserve proposal were dumped at Great Barrier, seen as an implied threat by opponents because the island is free of the pest.

Fishers have also threatened legal action against the plan and some Option 4 members have said they do not rule out taking direct action.