Fishing: Trawl for votes will have impact

With the kahawai issue now before the High Court, the attention of recreational fishing groups will turn to the management of snapper off the west coast of the North Island and the issue of marine reserves.

Labour, under pressure from low polls, has finally been making noises about some concessions to the amateur fishing sector and a pre-election sop can be expected sooner rather than later.

On the cards are cuts to the commercial take in area SNA8, where the fishing industry has exceeded its "total allowable catch" for 14 of the past 17 years, as well as the exclusion of key recreational fishing areas from some marine reserve proposals.

In SNA8, the industry is allowed 1500 tonnes of snapper a year; in 2003/04 it took 1666 tonnes.

The "deemed value" penalty is just over $3 a kilogram, but the snapper can fetch $5 a kilogram.

In addition, it is on the west coast, where amateurs can get out only in favourable weather, that there are most reports of high-grading - the evidence being hundreds of dead, floating fish.

It's a valued fishery for trawlers. The trouble is, the continual hammering of snapper in the spawning season has left a fishery some say is depleted to less than half the 20 per cent of virgin biomass the Minister of Fisheries is required to maintain under the Fisheries Act.

A ministry advice paper presents several options, most of which also include a proportional cut to the west coast recreational take of 15 a day.

At a recent meeting in Onehunga, many fishers were surprised to hear Raglan Sport Fishing club secretary Sheryl Hart - one of the Government's newly appointed recreational fishery advisers - advocating a cut to 10.

The thing is, off Raglan the fish caught are generally big, in the 3-10kg range. But further north, where there is far more fishing pressure, less opportunity to get offshore and most fishing is done in harbours, the average fish size is 1-2kg. Hart got that message and one that a cut would be opposed.

Boat-ramp surveys have suggested most fishers take fewer than 10 anyway.

Minister David Benson-Pope's response to the advice paper is expected within the next few weeks, in time to have some impact before the election.

Only one option in the advice paper leaves recreational fishers out of the future cuts and that requires a cut of the commercial take to around 1000 tonnes. That's the one the NZ Recreational Fishing Council and option4 have supported.

There have been back-door negotiations regarding the Volkner Rocks marine reserve proposal since it was first aired.

Now it appears the Minister of Conservation may be about to back down over an area favoured by those who target kingfish.

The reserve includes reefs that are favourites for the local game-fish club members and bring in money to ports at Tauranga and Whakatane through the charter industry.

In the past, opposition to inclusion of those reefs in the marine-protected area has fallen on deaf ears but in recent weeks it seems DoC representatives have been seeking precise GPS details of where these reefs are and the area that would be required around them to keep them fishable.

Rumour has it there will also be concessions made in other reserve proposals that have attracted strong local opposition. But Benson-Pope last week told an audience organised by the Dunedin Branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Society that a Labour-led Government would continue to press for marine reserves, a strong DoC budget and additions to the high country estate.

Benson-Pope said the Government was poised to announce a protected marine areas strategy to "make debate on the issue more rational than what we have had to date," and that the party advocated a network of protected marine areas.

There is growing cohesion between Maori and recreational fishing interests in terms of taking decisions on stock management away from the minister and his advisers, who are widely seen as supportive of the status quo, using export earnings as the argument.

Two hui in Northland hosted by Ngapuhi and other iwi explored the idea of extending the use of taiapure (reserves) and kaitiaki (guardianship) as allowed by the Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Act, in recognition of the fact that most Maori fishing is recreational rather than exercising customary rights.

Maori concern about leaving sufficient fish stocks for their future generations has to be matched by control of the commercial take, in which they have a majority interest. So the debate promises to be long and involved.

But the NZRFC, the Big Game Fishing Council and option4 are leaning more towards the idea that Maori control might provide a better opportunity to rebuild fish and shellfish stocks. That, of course, involves some level of trust that Maori will not be favoured over the general population.

For Maori, Pakeha and others seeking a feed, the fishing remains patchy, the water temperature is down to 14C and the bite-time short. Patience is required.

When nothing is happening, keep trying different baits and rigs. Put four rods out with a dropper, a strayline, a running rig, a flasher.

Try different coloured flashers - last Friday on the Manukau, the gurnard wanted only yellow. Try bonito and squid. Put out a big floater with a piper or two and multiple hooks for a big snapper.

Use cut pilchards or snap the head off as they seem to be working better than whole.