Fishing blitz planned for Labour weekend

Fishery officers are planning a major operation to catch fishers breaking the rules on the North Island's east coast during Labour Weekend.

The Fisheries Ministry announced yesterday that the operation will see boats, fishery officers and honorary fishery officers at work from Mangawhai Harbour in
And they are encouraging fishers to dob in offenders.
Northland south to Tauranga.

District compliance manager Matt Cowan said people fishing in the area could expect to be checked by fishery officers "at least once".

"During last year's operation, fishery officers checked over 800 boats and spoke with more than 4000 fishers," he said. "We detected 38 reasonably serious offences, resulting in both infringement notices and prosecutions."

The operation, the start of the ministry's summer campaign, will be followed by similar operations throughout the season.

It is aimed at ensuring compliance with fisheries rules and regulations.

"We know that 90 per cent of those who go fishing keep to the rules and want to play their part in ensuring a sustainable fishery in the Hauraki Gulf," Mr Cowan said.

"However, the remaining few unfortunately refuse to stick to the rules and insist on taking more than their fair share and, this summer, we will be there to deal with them."

Mr Cowan says the ministry was encouraging people who see others flagrantly breaking the rules to contact them on VHF Channel 88.

"We often get calls from fishers who see the boat next to them keeping way too many fish or keeping fish that are obviously undersized. While we act as quickly as possible, we are not always able to get there in time," he said.

"However, this Labour Weekend we will be in a position to respond very quickly and are therefore actively encouraging people to contact us as soon as they see any wrong-doing."

Both the ministry and the vast majority of fishers had the same aim - "a sustainable fishery for ourselves and for future generations", he said.

Education will again play a big part in the campaign with all officers and all vessels carrying pamphlets and posters outlining the rules and offering official rulers for those who need them.

The ministry will also be promoting its successful junior fishery officer programme, introduced a year ago.

"This popular initiative encourages all members of the family to understand the fishing rules by 'appointing' younger members of the crew to be junior fishery officers," Mr Cowan said. "These junior fishery officers are then 'responsible' for monitoring the fish caught on the boat, making sure they are all of legal size and that no more than the daily legal limit are kept."

- NZPA