Fishing: Rows loom as snapper disappear

The amateur and commercial fishing sectors are likely to clash over the measures necessary to rebuild a flagging west coast snapper stock.

The snapper biomass in the area designated SNA8, from North Cape to near Wellington, is thought to be between eight and 10 per cent of "virgin", when the Fisheries Act requires stocks to be maintained above a minimum of 20 per cent.

There are two quirks: The west coast amateur limit for snapper is 15 while off the east coast in SNA1, which runs from North Cape to near East Cape, it is nine - and right now the snapper fishing is very good off the west coast.

That 15-bag limit will come under pressure from the industry as the Minister of Fisheries is forced to make changes to help rebuild stocks.

And so will the take of the commercial fishing sector, which was increased year after year in response to claims to the Quota Appeals Authority. On top of that, the Total Allowable Commercial Catch has been exceeded for 14 of the past 17 fishing seasons.

The problem was realised nearly 10 years ago and some reductions to commercial catch were made but the fishery is not rebuilding. Concern is heightening now because for several years there has been poor recruitment of juveniles.

The snapper being caught in a late run on the Manukau and Kaipara Harbours and off the coast as easterlies allow, in the 2kg range and in very good condition, were spawned up to six years ago. They have been plentiful in the harbour channels.

But surveys suggest that for the past three or four years the recruitment of fish from larval stage to juvenile has been very poor and that is about to make an impact.
Off the east coast it is the low amateur kahawai catch that is causing concern for the recreational sector. Anglers are allotted 2300 tonne of snapper in SNA1 (commercial 4500t) and figures from aerial boat counts extrapolated across data gathered from boat ramp questionnaires on catch suggest they get most of it.

The Hauraki Gulf take in the survey period from December to April is estimated at 898t and is thought to be about 40-50 per cent of the total for SNA1. Add in the catch from Northland and the Bay of Plenty and that caught in winter and you'd be close to the allowance.

But the Hauraki Gulf kahawai take is estimated at just 33t of a 1865t allowance for KAH1, North Cape to East Cape.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research is about to release figures on the recreational catch and they will be used by recreational groups to drive their campaign to force Minister David Benson-Pope to change his decision on the allocation of kahawai quota under the QMS.

The amateur kahawai catch in KAH1 has been so poor that it's believed Niwa had trouble reaching its targets of otolith bones from the ear to use for ageing.

I had that problem myself this week when out in the Gulf targeting the last run of the kingfish. With Glen Eden mate Lee Wynyard, we took hours to get six baits and after all that managed one king around 15kg in a day's work.

The south-easterly is a curse of a wind for fishing and it appears to have driven the snapper wider and dispersed the schools.

The kahawai are still working between Waiheke and Rakino and from Rakino north to Tiri but they are smaller, stay on the surface for shorter periods and are harder to catch than two weeks ago.

Snapper are still in the same areas but bite-shy for much of the day. Berley is a must.

On the Manukau there have been good catches of fat gurnard up to 2kg.