John Mellars: Reserve puts island life under threat

COMMENT

The Department of Conservation has applied to create a massive marine reserve off the north-east coast of Great Barrier Island in the outer Hauraki Gulf.

Almost the entire population of Great Barrier - more than 95 per cent - opposes this application, because we do not trust the department, have little faith in its ability to manage a marine reserve, have serious doubts about its true motive, see no tangible benefit, and do not believe the claims it makes about the need for such a massive territory grab in the name of science.

If the reserve is allowed to proceed, we, the people of Great Barrier, will lose a significant portion of our fishing grounds.

We are subsistence fishers. We fish to eat. There is no fish shop on Great Barrier. If we cannot catch it, we cannot eat it.

The only commercial fishers based on Great Barrier are single-boat charter operators taking visitors fishing, mostly on day trips. This is a wonderful industry for Great Barrier. Our tourism benefits by hundreds of dollars from each snapper or kahawai caught by a delighted visitor. We must nurture this tiny industry, not inhibit it.

Already, ludicrous regulations prevent our cafes, clubs and restaurants from serving fresh, locally harvested snapper, terakihi, crayfish and scallops. This is an outrageous consequence of the quota management system. Not only do the bureaucrats make such rules but they enforce them with searches of freezers and cool-rooms.

On an island famous for such treats, it is difficult to explain this nonsense to visitors who pay good money to enjoy them.

On a fine, blue, sunny day, belting up the coast to Arid Island and the Pinnacles for a dive and a fish is the very best thing in the world. Locals never take this pleasure for granted; we all remember the looks of absolute delight on the faces of visitors experiencing it for the first and maybe only time.

The total catch each year from local effort, subsistence and charter would be miniscule, at most a few tonnes.

Why would you want to hurt it? What harm is it doing? Why does DoC want to steal 50,100ha, the equivalent of 102,000 rugby fields? That's 25 per cent of our coastal waters, if you include the already restricted defence area.

Other fishers get to enjoy our waters, too - big palaces from Westhaven, doughty yachties, intrepid dive charters from Leigh, Whitianga, Gulf Harbour, and a few thieving ratbags who take more than their share. Generally, there is no problem. They are not here for long and their impact is small.

On many occasions, we have tried to tell DoC what we think it should be doing if it is genuinely concerned about the health of our sea. It does not listen. All it wants is a big chunk of our heritage - to lock it up, ignore it probably, and maybe score a few brownie points with the boss.

What should the department be doing? Just two things. First, stop as much as possible the erosion of land and other junk from washing into the sea. Fine particles spread to kill all the delicate little creatures at the bottom of the food chain.

Second, stop the guts being dragged out of the Hauraki Gulf. This is occurring through bottom trawling, seine netting, pair trawling and all the other bulk-fishing methods that have decimated our inshore fish stocks and breeding grounds over the past 30 or so years.

Unless those two things happen, all the marine reserves in the world will achieve nothing. The bigger the reserve created, the more the damage that is done. Why? Because the commercial fishers still have the right to catch their quota, so they just shift to some other part of the area. As the available area shrinks, they fish harder to make the quota, and stocks decline further.

The Government, on the recommendation of DoC can fix this in minutes. The recovery will take longer but will be wonderful to behold.

* John Mellars is the chairman of the Great Barrier Island Community Board.