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MPI – complete scumbags

By Rhys Smith and Graham Carter

The cover-up of the Operational reports is one of the biggest travesties of justice since the Air NZ Mount Erebus crash.

MPI has been in the news a lot lately over its proven mis-management of the NZ fishery. Their competence has been under review by an independent QC. The QC came to the conclusion that the decision not to prosecute some commercial fishers it had video footage of deliberately dumping and non-reporting of catch was flawed.

That was no surprise to us, as there have been many equivalent incidents spread out over many years and this inquiry covers only two incidents.

The NZ commercial fishery operates under the Quota Management System. This system allows a commercial fisher ownership of a set amount of fish that he may catch and sell in one quota season from 1st Oct to the 1st Oct in a given area.

So a commercial fisherman may have 10 ton of snapper quota in area SNA1 for that season. You would expect the minister of MPI to impose some restrictions on the commercial fisher to protect the fishery from unsustainable fishing as the minister is bound by the Fishery Act 1996 to do so.

With regards to SNA1 the commercial fisher must return to the sea all snapper less than 250 mm. This is called discard and is legal for the fisher to do.

There is another form of discard that is legal, and that is for non-quota species. The minister may require these to be recorded. The minister will then set the deemed value of this fish species, so that if the fisher makes a mistake and catches fish he does not have a quota for he must still land the fish, but pay that price.

The last part of legal discard is called accidental discard. If a net is torn or any other sort of mishap occurs, where fish are discarded before the fisher has a chance to pull them on board. The fisher is then required to guess the weight and record them so they can come off his quota and this gives the minister an accurate idea of the amount of fish being caught in that season.

If a fisher breaches these restrictions that is an offense and is punishable in court, and in this case it is hypocrisy at its best!

When MPI went in search of catch information on the fishing mortality of the Hector Dolphin off the coast in Timaru, they put cameras on 6 large commercial fishing trawl vessels. This was with the co-operation of the owners of the vessels at the time. When the vessels left port with the cameras bolted to their masts there was no agreement with MPI to remove any of the restrictions.

As we understand it all of the restrictions we have listed above were in place in that

fishery management area.

This is when things really turned to custard.

During the data gathering exercise the MPI discovered some really disgraceful conduct, which was observed by both the onboard cameras and MPI observers on the vessels.

This included the discarding of medium legal fish that should have been retained on board. Other offences included misreporting of entire trawl catch as one vessel towed for hours only to discard the lot and not report it.

There was clear footage of usable fish being cut up and thrown away.

There were fish bins covered with ice and stacked on deck that was not recorded. There were two dolphins caught in the net and only one recorded.

There were some reports that show up to 60% of fish of a lesser value were dumped over the side.

All of the ministers restrictions, put in place to protect sustainability have been totally disregarded by 5/6 of the vessels in the trial.

Why were they not prosecuted?

The fishermen themselves must have been totally dumb or arrogant to do these things at all, let alone while the boss was filming them.

Should these fishermen be prosecuted, yes the evidence is too over-whelming and damning.

These fishermen were far too efficient at throwing away, cutting, discarding, non-reporting and their total disregard for any sustainable restriction put in place.

The commercial fishermen have shown complete and total contempt for the rules, the fish stock, and every kiwi.

So why didn’t MPI prosecute?

They simply didn’t want to.

These offences committed by the commercial industry could have seen a Judge confiscate all five offending vessels.

That would have been great for the fishery to recover from such a bunch of criminal fishers. But the MPI managers don’t see the fishery as a natural wonder; no, they see it only as a product for export.

Furthermore the behaviour is not isolated as this has been standard practice for nearly all our bulk harvesting fishery history, and has been going on for 30 years.

All of the MPI Senior management have known about these practices and should resign because they have let this continue for the sake of a few more export fish.

They should not resign because of incompetence, but because it was and has been a deliberate and planned strategy. If this is how our exporters are going to treat the gift of the NZ fishery then we don’t need them at all.

If the cost of exporting wild fish,

is to kill and waste thousands of tonnes, then we should stop.

MPI are in the fight for their lives, or at least the right to govern the NZ fisheries.

NZ First has called for a Commission of Enquiry along with a long silent advocacy group that has finally come out of the closet.

It’s pretty strange that when the MPI prosecute recreational fishers the rules are clear as a bell and a huge fuss is made in the media of their excellent job being done to protect the fishery. Rules for some and different rules for others.

The truth is a few kilometres off the coast the fishery is being plundered and the rules are fuzzy and the very same Ministry tries to hide from the public what is going on.

A Commission of Inquiry would show an orchestrated litany of lies. The same as Justice Mahon discovered in his investigation after Air New Zealand did the big cover up over the Erebus disaster.

The commercial fishers of NZ and now the MPI fishery management deserve all the hate that comes their way.

They have clung together constantly denying any wrong doing. Their lies and deception has now been revealed and they still can’t man up.

They have caused continual damage to our once healthy and pristine fishery and wreaked havoc and anguish amongst the normally subdued kiwi angler.

The Minister and top Directors of MPI who have publicly, time after time, told us of their faith in the world beating QMS and how proud we can be of our sustainable NZ fishery.

They have straight faced lied to the NZ public and have proven beyond doubt that they are the most atrocious liars New Zealand has ever known.

They have told us that 75% of the NZ QMS fish are at the level of sustainability that they want.

They don’t consider the Hawkes bay or Bay of Plenty as depleted and they have put the blame for the decimation of the Marlborough Sounds on the pine trees and the recreational fisher.

They have been protecting the parasites known as a commercial fisher.

Two of these parasites Coleman and Gallacher have jumped ship. According to Martyn Dunne Director General and his MPI legal adviser, who sent us a letter stating that they hold Coleman and Gallacher in high regard, and they were not sacked. We sent a letter back saying that we don’t hold these two shysters in high regard in any form.

Are these two contemptible scumbags? If so, they should not and never be employed in public service as they would be a disgrace to the country.

So what’s the problem? The problem is that we share these resources and

the SNA1 Management Plan is lip service to sustainability and actually is facilitated managed depletion through providing increase pressure on our local fishing grounds.

The issue is that the MPI think by tagging fish, releasing them and catching them again in a trawl later on, that they can use this to increase the Total Allowable Catch (TAC), because they are good at catching the same fish. The relocation of fishing utilization to 50:50 (Recreational - Commercial) is just a way of justifying high restrictions on our ability to catch, enjoy and connect with fish.

The fact that they plan to change TAC but not change total allowable commercial Catch (TACC) is of serious concern, there is no equity only that if SNA1 collapses the community has to take it on the chin and have bag limits cut whereas commercial will not be affected.

If we want to have a productive ocean we need to relate to it in a productive way, make more with less and increase the value of what we have got, not just make it easier to take more.

We need an ecosystem based approach that is related to space and connected to places, fishing grounds, reefs and marine features.

We are all guardians, stewards and kaitiaki of our shared resource. We have only a handful of local fishers doing it hard in a QMS world and they need a chance to make a living in a sustainable way. This does not mean they are going to go hard and “move-on” as the report suggest, we all should do, It means been empa-

thetic to the environment and our community that share the resource.

We love fish in this country but sometimes it seems we forget that in order to enjoy the pleasure it brings us we have to have a little compassion for each other.

We the community has got the pointy end of the sword and now they want as to walk the plank. Well this fisher is not going to do nothing and slip quietly into the dark.

We totally refuse to negotiate or talk with these scumbags like some do as they don’t deserve the time of day. Consultation and negotiation is a waste of breathe as they have proven over succeeding years.

The MPI is the ‘cancer of our seas’ and rotten to the very core.

The Director of MPI Martyn Dunne has shown on TV where his loyalties lie and it is not with the fish or recreational fisher. He should resign as he is not a fit and proper person to fulfil his role, as guardian of our waters.

We love the sea and all that it provides, and the moments we share with it. We all want our kids to have those opportunities, sharing stories, laughs and tales.

It’s our heritage, it’s our culture, and it’s our future.

If we don’t do something about it, it will be a myth.

The Proposed SNA1 (snapper 1) management plan is designed stupidity, that rough shods the community.

No Notification.

No Consultation.

No Community Engagement.

Save our sea.

This concerns everyone who enjoys fish, fishing, sustainability and not destroying the planet.

The marine resources are part of our identity. It’s our heritage and our children’s future connection. The ocean provides so much, now we must support ocean, as a community.

They have said that they are not going to do a consultation process, and the final plan will be submitted to MPI minister Nathan Guy in October for approval.

The plan is lip service to facilitate the use of trawlers in the inshore fishery. It says little to protecting fish from destructive methods of fishing, and we could see the collapse of our local fishing grounds. They have recommendations for increasing TAC, and increasing TAC share to Rec fishing, as well as compensation to commercial fishing who maybe disadvantaged by reductions to TAC. What’s most shocking is that TAC if reduced would only be for Rec fishing bag limits and Commercial would remain the same TACC levels.

We as community connected to the ocean will ultimately be eroded in the near future.

This complete issue really shows what a slippery snake Nathan Guy really is. It also shows us that there are no top level staff in the MPI that have a conscience or actually care.

Now that there is evidence and significant dialogue on commercial fisheries ongoing lawbreaking and decimation of the fish stocks there is less squirming room for Guy and his cronies than there has ever been.

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The complete UFO product range

Editor Graham Carter mail@fishingoutdoors.co.nz 021 02600437

The Ultimate The UFO Ultimate can be used as a hangi, roaster, steamer, smoker, baker and BBQ. The principle is based on a stainless steel food oven heated by a twin ring gas burner which is situated beneath the cooker on a heat deflecting stand.

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The cooker itself looks a lot like the Original UFO but once inside, the stories differ. There is a raised column on the bottom of the cooker allowing heat to rise from the burner giving an easy dry heat of 180 degrees for roasting. It has the additional item of a cup that fits over the column, when you place this cup over the column; you simply add water in the bottom to enable the UFO Ultimate to steam.

There are two stainless steel baskets inside the UFO Ultimate which will cook 25 main meals. They can be laden with food for roasting, steaming or smoking. Water and/ or smoking dust can be added to the base of the cooker depending on the required flavour. The UFO Ultimate Cooker can be turned over; the cast iron base plate becomes the hot plate to form a portable and fantastic little BBQ. This Cooker captures the essence of traditional New Zealand cooking in a more modern and less stressful manner.

We even recommend smoking your roast! Simply hang your meat from the hooks provided, seal them on with the disc and clip, and replace the lid to produce succulent, easy and popular roast meal anywhere!

Graphics: Astro Creative Photography: Sandi Tuan Regular Writers: Graham Carter James Speedy Ben Hope Frank Henry Dick Featherstone Tony Orman Rhys Smith John McNab Fishing and Outdoors is published by Ashwood Grove Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the contributors, editor, staff and management or directors of Ashwood Grove Ltd. ISSN 1179-5034 Unsolicitored editorial, letters, photographs will only be returned if you include a stamped, self addressed envelope. www.fishingoutdoors.org Copyright © 2011 Fishing Outdoors Newspaper, All Rights Reserved.

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The UFO Rocket Two-In-One is a light, portable unit. When boating, if you choose to go ashore, you can collect driftwood as a fuel source, then cook up your catch of the day, and then have hot water available for a cuppa or the dishes.

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A Grab for the Gulf

By Fiona Mackenzie

The feeling of having been totally out-maneuvered has become a common sensation amongst Auckland regional ratepayers – and they don’t know half of what is going on.

This powerlessness extends to some of the well-meaning City Councillors who thought they were being elected to work for the people; they now see themselves as fall guys, taking the rap for conniving bureaucrats, greedy iwi and unscrupulous politicians.

Latest Target Currently, there’s a scheme being executed to gain control of the Hauraki Gulf and its surrounds. It’ll give a few from 26 tribal groups incredible power over a massive and very critical 4,000 km² body of water (from near Mangawhai in the North down to Waihi in the south, and beyond Great Barrier Island to the east), along with the significant land catchments bordering the entire eastern coast of Auckland, the extensive Hauraki Plains, the entire Coromandel Peninsula, and the many islands of the Gulf.

Who will be affected by this? Think aquacultural farms, commercial and recreational fishing, ferries, tourism, leisure, sport, every marina, boat ramp, buoy or mooring, and landowners – possibly even commercial air space, bridges and roads.

And if there’s not enough money coming from these sources to fill the iwi coffers, there are always the defenceless ratepayers of Auckland City to squeeze a bit more from.

Gross Dysfunction Since 2000, the Gulf has been managed by the Hauraki Gulf Forum with Auckland Council as its administering authority. Its board includes Ministry bureaucrats, elected representatives of all the region’s

respective organisations and obtain a mandate before voting. The inevitable claims of “racism” were made.

Obstacles Simply Eliminated There’s no suggestion that principles of democracy, good govcouncils, plus 6 self-nominated ernance or working in the best tribal representatives appointed interests of the entire regional by the Minister of Conservation. population formed any part of Unsurprisingly, there has been the Report’s recommendations. gross dysfunction in the Forum. They require that: the Forum be In his 2015 report, management based on co-governance, with equal consultant Dr Nigel Bradly put it numbers of mana whenua (i.e. peodown to the “inability or unwilling- ple from the 26 tribal so-called “auness of members to act as a ‘politi- thorities over the land”) and others. cal peer group’…….the mismatch The tribes appoint their eight members via of willingness, understanding and representative methodology their expectations of members is at the whatever deem appropriate. heart of the failure of the Forum to leaders promote the objectives of the Act.” The other, non-tribal side of the This highlights the obvious − a “partnership” represent the closefundamental conflict inherent in on 2 million regional citizens with − having elected representatives 5 members (not Crown repre(some of whom are working in the sentatives) appointed by the public’s best interests, i.e. for the re- Minister of Conservation (who gion’s environmental and economic would be guided by the adhealth) and those of appointed, vice of iwi-centric bureaucrats). totally self-serving parties wanting 3 members appointed by the loto increase their power and wealth. cal authorities (Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council and the Lack of Due Process To rid the Forum of its pesky con- territorial authorities collectively). scientious objectors, a purposely Each term would be for 3 years with selected team was tasked with com- the ability to reappoint as desired. ing up with a new governance mod- The Forum would gain statutory el – one which would prioritize the authority (i.e. be authorized to tribes’ financial interests in fishing enact legislation over the Gulf ). and pursuit of treaty settlements This reads more like an aggresover the Gulf’s many harbours. sive takeover than a demoOn 20th June 2016, the ensuing cratic solution focussed on Report was tabled at the regular what’s best for New Zealanders. meeting. Despite its 83 pages and Conflicts of Interest the serious implications therein (or Notably, this Report was not perhaps due to), Chairman John prepared by appropriately indeTregidga (Mayor of Hauraki District pendent or skilled professionCouncil) and Deputy Chair Liane als, without potential conflicts Ngamane ignored due process and of interest. The authors were: tried to get the Report’s recom- Paul Beverley, Partner in Buddle mendations accepted on the spot. Finlay Lawyers − the same organiThe meeting, apparently, became zation which has been employed rather acrimonious when some (at ratepayer expense) by the unexpressed concern at this attempt elected, unaccountable (but with to shove the recommendations voting rights) Independent Maori through. Understandably, they Statutory Board. Paul is also ‘Indewished to have it reviewed by their pendent Chair’ (sic) of Sea Change

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– Tai Timu Tai Pari, the Forum’s cogovernance planning arm; and he is reputed to be very close to National’s iwi-deal maker, Chris Finlayson, or at least his policy advisors.

Vaughan Payne, Chief Executive, Waikato Regional Council (with part Ngai Tai and Whakatohea ancestry).

Mark Maloney, a bureaucrat − Head of Internal Audit for Auckland Council (he is thought by some to be easily managed).

With input from the Forum’s tangata whenua members − Deputy Chair Liane Ngamane (a treaty negotiator for her tribe Ngati Tamatera) and Terrence (Mook) Hohneck (Chief Executive of the Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust). They were to ensure the other three “understood tangata whenua perspectives”.

The conflicts of interest may not end there. At the time of writing, the Forum’s Auckland City Councillors did not yet know if this Report would be reviewed and voted on by their Council’s governing body. There’s a chance it could be directed to a sub-committee for an easier passage from carefully selected participants, plus the two votes from the unelected, unaccountable and totally conflicted members of the Independent Maori Statutory Board.

Under Urgency There was a real push to get the Report accepted at the Forum’s Sep-

tember meeting before there’s any chance of any more democraticallyminded councilors being appointed in the October 2016 Local Body Elections. The plan is to start implementation immediately thereafter.

There’ll also be a wish to progress the statutory objectives well before the 2017 Parliamentary elections, while the very obliging and pro-separatist National Party and its Chris Finlayson are still in power.

Democracy Knifed in the Back So where is the accountability to the people? Where are the checks and balances to prevent any future harm, corruption or abuse of power from this most undemocratic of proposals? There are absolutely none.

And why hasn’t the NZ Herald covered this issue? The local body reporter Bernard Orsman says he’s not interested − which demonstrates just how much a part of the problem the media is.

What’s so unbelievable is that there are actually New Zealanders who consider this type of cogovernance a suitable model in a democratic country. Alternatively, they could be excited by the prospect of rich pickings from showing support for rising tribal oligarchs.

References: The purpose of the Hauraki Gulf Forum was established in Section 15 of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act

2000. http://www.legislation.govt. nz/…/2000/0001/latest/whole.html Current Members of the Hauraki Gulf Forum:http://www. aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/…/ haurak…/pages/home.aspx 20th June 2016 Agenda – http://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/…/ HGF_20160620_A… and Minutes –http://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/…/HGF_20160620_M… Sea Change – Tai Timu Tai Pari, a co-governance entity established in 2013 to produce a Marine Spatial Plan for the Gulf – expected to be delivered late 2016. It is to be implemented by the Hauraki Gulf Forum.http://www.seachange.org.nz/ Fiona Mackenzie, MBA, BA , Dip/ Cert Tch worked as a teacher, before moving into the finance and investment banking industries, a marketing communications consultancy, and recreational project management. For the last 21 years, Fiona has combined self–employment with parenthood and voluntary work - as a board member/trustee, environmental and recreational worker, community fundraiser, teacher help, and political commentator.

She is a passionate New Zealander.

Thanks to the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, www.nzcpr.com

Fisheries Management Needs Full Inquiry New Zealand First is renewing its call for a full Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand’s fisheries management following recent talk of limits on recreational fishing.

“The fishery belongs to all New Zealanders but it is a finite resource,” says Spokesperson for Fisheries and Outdoor Recreation Richard Prosser.

“The Quota Management System now 30 years old, has worked well but now causes some of the is-

sues we face. It needs to be looked at again along with our whole system of fisheries management.

“An inquiry with the authority to investigate quota allocation and trading, how Total Allowable Commercial Catches (TACC) are set, and the degree of foreign involvement in quota-holding companies is needed.

“The inquiry should look at everything, from the effectiveness of surveillance technology, to the resourcing avail-

able to Fisheries Officers and the Navy for enforcement, and who should be allowed to fish in the inshore.

“New Zealand First has consistently said that fishing is a birthright for New Zealanders, and that the reasonable needs of ordinary people have to take priority, but we must be mindful of the commercial sector, also; no-one wants to put them out of business,” says Mr Prosser.

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Electronic Monitoring not fully tamper proof The June edition of Seafood New Zealand contained an opinion piece by Dr. David Middleton, Chief Executive of Trident Systems, called ‘Science before Rhetoric.’

Middleton’s article took exception to public disclosure of the ownership of Trident Systems and questions raised about the appropriateness of Trident providing monitoring services when the owners of Trident and the fishing enterprises they monitor are one and the same.

Even the title, ‘Science before Rhetoric,’ seemed to question the legitimacy of this concern. The public should be concerned when companies providing monitoring services which are not independent from the industries they monitor.

How can the Ministry for Primary Industries have confidence that their requirements, and those of stakeholders, for independent monitoring could be ensured by contracting these monitoring services to industry‐owned companies such as Trident Systems.

The importance of arm’s length independence appears to have been overlooked.

While there can be overlap between a fishery data collection programme and a fishery monitoring programme in operational detail, they serve different in purposes and should therefore be different in structure.

Fishery monitoring programmes are important for the collection of timely, accurate and objective information about the activities onboard fishing vessels. Monitoring is also used to improve compliance with regulations by changing behaviours among fish-

ery participants. Without monitoring, it is often very difficult to verify compliance with regulations and to obtain accurate information on total catch composition, not just landings.

Organizations responsible for monitoring fisheries are challenged in their role because the information they collect can limit economic opportunity for the fishing enterprises being monitored. Hence, independence between monitoring companies and the vessels they monitor is valuable for ensuring reporting of factual fishery information.

Further, independence supports stakeholder confidence in the integrity of a monitoring programme.

For these reasons, fishery monitoring companies must meet conflict of interest requirements intended to create arm’s length separation with the fishing entities being monitored. Trident Systems would not satisfy the conflict of interest guidelines used for monitoring programs in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia.

Industry led fishery data collection programs are very common and should be encouraged.

Such data gathering programs are often collaborative with many positive benefits of such as engagement, building knowledge, problem solving, and ensuring cost effectiveness.

As fishery monitoring programs are costly and complex, optimizing costs is necessary to ensure the objectives are met in the most cost effective manner possible.

Industry is in a unique position to harness the support by industry and thereby achieve these cost ef-

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require an external audit process to ‘monitor the monitors,’ they should be designed so that arm’s length independence is incorporated from the start, thereby avoiding programme integrity challenges every time an undesired data result occurs.

Fishery monitoring programmes should be delivered indepen-

ficiencies. Likewise, industry involvement in programme design ensures the programme is well integrated with fishery operations, thereby reducing additional cost or lost opportunity such as unplanned vessel time in port waiting for services.

There are numerous reasons why By Rhys Smith industry led data collection programmes should be encouraged. Has the commercial fishery or for Should this also extend to fish- that matter MPI made a valid atery monitoring programmes? tempt to deal with discard in The answer should be no for both the commercial fishing industry of NZ? observer and EM programmes. In The answer is NO, not even slightly. the case of the former, independ- History tells us the commercial fishers ence is widely recognised as critical would rather hide it than deal with it. to data integrity and accepted as best History also tells us that MPI practice. Suggestions for indus- is also happy to hide discard. try provided observer services Ok so everybody makes mistakes so would not be taken seriously in what about now in the present day. this day and age and EM‐based Unfortunately for the fish both MPI monitoring should not be con- and Commercial fishers are in imsidered differently. Dr. Middleton age control after both being busted overlooks the importance of in- promoting the wonderful world best dependence by suggesting fishing system as sustainable, only to that the data should be trusted then have splashed all over all forms because EM systems are tam- of media evidence of dead fish on per evident, they contain time the beaches again, dead Dolphin and location stamps, and can be again, dead seabirds, and seals again. audited by MPI. Maybe it’s actually time to refocus not Contrary to what people might on the discard itself but the fact that think, EM is not fully tamper evident, it is being caught in the first place. tamper proof, nor fully automated. Discard comes in two forms. A Technicians are required to man- fisher must discard all fish unage EM systems on vessels, ensure der the QMS that is undersize. crew compliance with catch There is also a clause that allows for handling protocols, and ana- accidental discard because of gear lyze data sets to detect events of failure or a log in the net or heavy interest and esti- weather or any sort of event supposmate catch composition. edly beyond the skippers control.

Information quality is influenced by These things take effect when intentional or unintentional actions the fish has been caught. of the programme personnel, their To avoid catching a fish you don’t skill level, and their level of tasking. want or is to small and by law must Monitoring programs should not be discarded you have three choices.

dently from industry to ensure the data outputs are trusted across a broad stakeholder community. Trident System’s ownership by the fishing industry might be operationally convenient but it creates a setting where proving objectivity will continually persist and always be difficult, particularly when the data results are contentious or questionable.

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MPI should only be contracting fishery monitoring services to companies that meet conflict of interest guidelines, a requirement that Trident could meet with restructured ownership. Monitoring programmes should be implemented to help build bridges among diverse stakeholder groups, not foster division.

History speaks……

First choice for the fish if they could speak of had any rights at all is to stop fishing. That’s called a reserve and unless they are massive in area, with a small boundary like a fiord, they don’t work.

The second is change location.

If you find you are in a fishing spot with heaps of small fish then move. The commercial fishers in SNA1 have a 15% move on rule in there code of practice. But this is also to late as the fish have been caught and will most likely be returned to the sea dead.

Third is to fish using a different method. A recreational fisher may choose to move or use bigger hooks. This is where something is very wrong. The commercial fishing nets currently being used are 125 mm mesh that are still catching very small fish when really this should not be possible with this mesh size.

They can use a net called T90 that has mesh and holds its 125 mm size when towed. They choose not to but instead put cameras on board.

What the camera’s do is show the 15% or more of dead fish, but again it’s too late for the fish. The PSH net that will catch fish and bring them to the surface sounds really good, but it too is catching the small fish in the first place.

These bulk harvest trawl vessels really need to sort out this discard issue really quick if they hope to fish in the inshore fishery that is home to the 880,000 recreational fishing industry or they just might find themselves evicted to offshore only.

The industries own PR and guest experts say that discard is a very serious problem that should be addressed before the QMS system is undermined with a negative effect on the fisheries resources.

The next trick is this monitoring of the recreational fishers. This really is a bold move by the commercial fishers at a time when there reputation is lower than mud. What would they do if they discovered that recreational fishers caught half what the industry and MPI estimate they catch.

We would ask for and surely get the SNA limit put back up to 9 or 10 like the West Coast. The commercial industry can address some of these discard problems but choose not to, so why should the recreational fishers attempt to be friends with the commercial industry.

There is a couple of things we can be friends with the commercial fishers, but trawling off our beaches in the summer killing small fish is not one of them.

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Amateur Gurnard Fishing Hawke’s Bay

By Steven Waerea

many more species of fish in the seasonal movements of fish we encounter out this side of the coast.

The gurnard however are ever present from the shallows of the beach line off Napier to the depths out around past Cape Kidnapper’s to the south as far as Black Head.

They average up to 1.5 kg down Out wide of Napier can get extremely there the size of baseball bats, nasty, day’s like this are magic. it seems the deeper you go the bigger and thicker they get. tive trade plus the modern way of One kilo gurnard were once regu- fishing, he was a pretty slick Maori. larly achievable from the shal- He showed me the ropes of catching low waters of Napier, but they gurnard, fishing the modern way. aren’t in close like they use to be, These flasher rig thing’s I’d seen mainly from the overfishing and in shops but never had been able from the environmental factors to afford were the biggest advanwhich mainly remain unknown. tage I’d gained from Vince. He’d Writer / Amateur Fisherman.

The local council, MPI and iwi swear by them, bright red and Gurnard fishing around the Hawke’s are working on a project to help green were his favourites. We’d Bay region has to rank as the best us understand more off what’s fish two rod’s each, one with a in New Zealand in my opinion. happening to our beloved en- green flasher and one with red. If The large vast shallow water inside vironment and the wildlife that the bay basin of the region pro- once thrived in these parts. vides the perfect habitat for these We still find the gurnard in the very desirable species of fish. depths off Napier, it just takes These tasty specimen will be found a bit of patience and someright across the Hawke’s Bay’s times a change of depth. muddy sandy sea floor along with I fished the wider region as a the sweet flat fish (flounder) plus young fellow, but it wasn’t until I landed an apprenticeship in the Automotive Industry at Lou’s Panel Shop some 15 years ago that I stumbled across a great long-time fishing friend and work colleague “Vince” a New Zealand Maori.

He was a bit older than me, with two children, a wife, and the house.

Cape Kidnappers still produces the goods when He’d shown me the modern Kontiki fishing was massive for gurnard techniques of the automo- but not so much anymore the weather let’s you.

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one colour was out performing the other on any given day we’d switch the other two rod’s to the colour that was getting the action.

Along with flasher rig’s Vince convinced me to get a sensor tip rod, which was more sporting for the humble size these tasty fish are.

It was really great fighting these fish and the big sucker’s on light gear, but you had to remember that the rod still needs a bit of grunt to handle the Snapper and Kingfish that pop up from time to time while Gurnard hunting.

When anchored over sand and mud in the summer months where we hunted the Gurnard you’ll catch all types of fish species red, silver, green, big, or small, the variety is so immense at times, so it paid to be prepared when targeting gurnard for other such species.

It was good to have a jig rod on hand as you’d be surprised how many kingies have been nailed while at anchor amongst the sometimes intense fast pace bottom fishing action filled with chunky snapper and trevally.

I’m a fan of the traditional J hooks and stick to size 5 mostly for the flasher rig’s, but I also have a couple of smaller one’s on hand in case at time’s I find the fish to be a bit fickle on the bite, as they seem to be not be so aggressive at time’s.

Berley really is the duck’s guts for Hawke’s Bay’s featureless ocean sea floor along with patience. It can take ten or so minutes for them to start biting and I tend to fish a spot for an hour and if drawing blanks, I lift the anchor and move on to other areas in the quest of catching a feed and the journey around the bay trying to find fish over the

The gurnard fishery needs a rest in Hawke Bay

vast muddy bottom, is always fun.

Depth sounder’s or fish finder’s a lot of people call them can be extremely useful in finding fish but they can’t pick up Gurnard because them suckers are hard on the bottom hiding away out of sight, out of harm’s way, ex-

Big and nasty they get.

cept for them bloody trawler’s.

The most king gurnard Tu-meke fishing trip some time ago round 2005 was out in Jessy Jane a 14 foot Sea Nymph with another good mate Adam parked in a mere 18 metre depth over the mud n sand, a gloriously day to remember when we pulled anchor we were still pulling in gurnard after gurnard double hook up’s bent rod’s sun beaming down dead calm, some sixty plus gurnard we landed in those short few hour’s we were being selective putting good size one’s back and keeping them thick sucker’s.

It’s in a sad state the gurnard fishing these days, it seems they have had a hiding from all angles now.

Our water supplies are ruined, the river’s wrecked, butt amongst it you’ll still find gurnard in the depth’s trying to survive more than flourishing.

Amateur Fisherman / Hawkes Bay Amateur Fishing / You Tube.

Gurnard from the more southern beaches from the south of Hawkes Bay

Guys done it again - changes to OPINION Council bureaucrats running amok commercial fishing limits Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has announced changes to management controls for 25 fish stocks as part of the regular twice yearly fisheries sustainability review.

“All these decisions make the best possible use of the latest scientific information to ensure sustainable stocks whilst maximizing the benefits for all users - customary, recreational and commercial,” says Mr Guy. However Guy is not telling the complete truth. What he has really done is under the guise of showing recreational catch increasing he has not increased the daily bag limit. This means that you can only catch the same bag limit while commercial catch has increased and they can catch more. This is called PR deception and is just a blatant increase in the ability of the Commercial to catch more. He must really believe that rec fishers are stupid to accept this PR propaganda.

A key change is a significant increase to the catch limit for Snapper 7 (covering the top and west coast of the South Island) with

recreational catch increasing from 90 to 250 tonnes, and commercial from 200 to 250 tonnes.

“This is in response to the latest scientific information showing a major and rapid increase in the numbers of snapper in recent years. While there is no immediate change to bag limits, it creates a 50/50 split between commercial and recreational which better reflects the value that recreational fishers place on this important shared fishery.”

Again this PR stunt is deceptive and Guys comment reflects the disdain in which he holds recreational fishing. What this does is creates more hatred and distance between commercial and recreational fishers.

Most of this extra commercial catch will be exported whilst the general public get the squashed and damaged fish left over and unsuitable for export served up in supermarkets.

Other changes include a decrease in the total commercial catch limit of bluenose across New Zealand from 1,195 tonnes to 990 tonnes.

According to the latest research, the rebuild plan is showing signs of success but all stocks require

lower limits in order to achieve the rebuild in a shorter timeframe.

In the Paua 7 fishery (top of the South Island) there will be a decrease for the commercial sector from 220.24 tonnes to 133.62 tonnes. This is supported by industry and follows their voluntarily shelving of up to 28% of the quota over recent years.

The truth behind this reduction is that paua and bluenose have been overfished.

“For South Island eels this is the first year where shortfin and longfin eels have been considered separately, as recommended by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in her 2013 report.

“Separate management allows catch limits to ensure longfin eel stocks are managed appropriately while setting the necessary levels of sustainable utilization for the more abundant short fin species.

“To reflect concern about the status and trend of long fin eel populations in the South Island, commercial harvest is being significantly reduced to encourage an increase in the population.

“All of these changes are informed by science and ensure we have a flexible and responsive system.

Regular monitoring and amendments to catch limits are key elements of our fisheries management system.

“Fish stocks trend up and down for a number of reasons, including fishing, environmental conditions and fish stock recruitment.

It is important that regular adjustments are made to ensure extraction rates are aligned with these natural trends.”

The new catch limits and deemed value rates all come into effect on 1 October.

Money.

When you stop and consider what’s happening around New Zealand from Cape Reinga to Bluff we have some serious environmental issues facing us.

The thing is it’s not just the National government that’s failing us – it’s all of the political parties and council staff.

They get their briefs from the bureaucrats that repetitiously bungle matters and they are able to hide behind their deceit and avoid prosecution because the system is corrupt and protects them.

They dick around forming committees and running complex enquiries into why these things are occurring, while very little practical assistance is being given and in most cases things get worst.

They cover their backs by saying things have to be done democratically.

But they rarely face and deal with the real issues like polluted waterways; cadmium and heavy metals in our waterways; intensive dairying; swimmable rivers; sewerage discharge; 1080 – fish – water; irrigation and dams; banning of lead shot; forestry – sediment and runoff.

Promised Rec Fishing Parks; reduction in rec fish bag limits; deception of Hauraki Gulf Forum; increases in Commercial take; Trident camera cover-ups; more dolphins killed; fish farming issues; inshore fish depletion; Hawkes Bay fish depletion; Bay of Plenty depletion; Kermadec reserve issues; MPI Fisheries Management corruption; continued dumping and discard of unwanted fish, and the list goes on.

Look at our local regional councils for example that are tasked as central government to manage our environmental affairs. Yet they only investigate complaints of abuse. Farmers get the blame

for most of the nitrogen leaching and stock in waterways issues.

Sure that’s where the matter starts but if Councils took leadership, they may get on top of many of the issues.

Take the 80-years plan to sort out the Waipa and Waikato rivers. 80 years is disgraceful.

Why blame the farmers when they are required to pay extremely high Council costs for consents and other charges which they struggle with, so there’s little left for their environmental issues. They get poor service; while council staff are overpaid do little bureaucrats that spend their time chasing paper instead of getting out and dealing with most issues that are well within their capabilities.

The waste of taxpayer dollars is incredulous.

I believe that Councils should be held and taken to task more than the farmers, but who is going to do this? Taking a council to court for permitting itself to discharge raw sewerage into a stream is nigh on impossible and the legal system has ensured this.

So what’s the real issue? Is it big business interests that have the ability to stall decisions and the money to halt issues in court, all the while our environment is being destroyed.

Big business is colluding with government departments and councils so they can keep wages low and make more profits for their shareholders and send their profits offshore?

The government under John Key’s regime has turned its back on the outdoor public of New Zealand and is running amok with the lack of consultation, discussions with interested and affected parties and in many cases the blatant disregard for New Zealand citizens interests.

Key is more interested in getting his ‘export mandate’ fulfilled and look-

ing after the interests of the corporates rather than listen to those of us that want to feed our families and look after our environment.

We the voters are suffering in many areas as wages don’t keep up with rising costs of basic living essentials. Is this the government’s plan to ensure we remain tied to their corporate mates?

With the 2017 elections coming on fast we must continue to remember the issues that are affecting us and the significance of Nationals disrespect and undemocratic manner in which they refuse to listen to citizens.

On many occasions the various departments and ministers responsible for decisions have completely ignored submissions and proposals put forward by advocacy groups and individuals concerned for the well-being of New Zealand’s 100% pure clean green image and the state of the environment with issues like 1080 poisoning and the state of our fishery.

We have iwi planning to take over our harbours and waterways, with hidden agendas. They quickly forget that they are kiwis like the rest of us and the few at the top rarely share their treaty settlements with those that need it.

If we as a people are going to stop the corporate greed and live in harmony as one people then we need to start walking the talk. Politicians that don’t comply with the people’s wishes for the long term benefit of New Zealanders need to be jailed. Ministers like Maggie Barry, Nathan Guy, and Nick Smith that support economic and environmental genocide.

We sit back hoping that the government will see some sense and make correct decisions, but they rarely do.

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Perfect precedent for tourists to buy smoked trout?

By Ross Baker

a blind tasting with friends. You guessed it – the farmer was correct! Comparatively, his trout from this ‘other’ river was tasteless.

Why is that? The ‘other’ river trout feed on aquatic bugs and insects. Taupo trout feed on smelt (whitebait) and koura (small fresh-water crayfish). They are what they eat. So given the choice, which would you prefer?.

Which is a sneaky way to introduce today’s tricky subject…

Despite their ‘maturity’ (what a nice way of describing argumentative elderly dinosaur anglers?) they really are a very perceptive bunch so we have to take notice.

It gets worse when they ask SWMBO as well so then I have to comment on their observations.

Their question, year after year, is how tourists can acquire smoked trout, which leads us

SWMBO delivering another tasty treat of smoked Tongariro trout.

to the Tongariro Trout Centre.

What a wonderful treasure the Trout Centre is!

Photo above of TRM smokehouse at full capacity with 15 Recently we were reminded of just how good Taupo trout are. I was returning across a farm on another river carrying a rainbow trout and stopped to thank the farmer for access.

We had saved one good specimen of Rainbow trout for him as a reward. He surprised us when he declined the offer saying he only ever ate “Taupo” trout! He suggested the river trout were rubbish…

So to see if we could detect any difference from a fresh run Tongariro trout in similar condition and smoked exactly the same, we held

Where can they buy smoked trout?

We confess this might be our fault too as the moorish tangy succulent odours from TRM’s smokehouse waft around the motel enhancing their desires.

Anglers cannot help themselves showing off their catch to curious tourists as they cluster around the fish cleaning station and compare their catch.

So naturally the tourists ask questions as the anglers smoke them and take the fillets away to celebrate with their friends.

TRM are also guilty as we often give away smoked trout to encourage goodwill, etc.…

Occasionally an angler might pick the wrong time to visit when the river gets flooded or when it

For many years we have it confirmed from Kiwi and overseas visitors who return full of enthusiasm and admiration for the early work and dedication by so many local volunteers.

It is the perfect environment to introduce young people to trout fishing and to enthuse

just refuses to yield them a few trout to take home. Other anglers realize this and often leave their surplus trout in the freezer for distribution to other inmates.

trout – 30 fillets. If you lean forward you can almost smell them…

As you all know TRM are often at the receiving end of hard questions from TRM fishy inmates.

again we get asked the same difficult-to-answer question…

them and educate them about fresh water issues. But again and

At the trout centre on kid’s days during school holidays they have found a way to get around the law charging the kids one (ten dollars?) fee to pay for their one day licence

7

and hire the gear to catch a trout and then smoke it for kids to take home. So why not do it for tourists?

So tourists ask, over and over, why can’t they buy smoked trout? This continual questioning for many years confirm how antiquated and out-of-date our laws and regulations are. Regretfully we are missing a golden opportunity for promoting local tourism.

Then when other inmates admit to them that the Trout Centre managed to identify a loop-hole to get around the law to farm trout for local Maori, they question and ridicule NZ’s legal ethics.

This ‘Trout Farming’ precedent should be celebrated as it proved the legislation interpretation provides for some flexibility when it suits and can be exploited much further in the wider interests of Turangi tourism…

In Taupo they can sell cooked prawns from a prawn farm direct to the public. So why not smoked trout in Turangi? Then in the South Island they can sell smoked salmon.

Tourists ask – again and again – if the Trout Centre can farm trout and give them away, why can’t they charge an admission fee to include a delicate juicy fillet of smoked trout in the overall experience.

As the iwi Trout Farming arrangement proved the antiquated fresh water fishery laws are capable of radical re-interpretation, it would be a complete win-win for everyone without opening up the wider demand which DOC are terrified might encourage poaching? Any competent person should be able to navigate their way through the obsolete ‘legalese’.

It is only a matter of someone in authority being positive and to have the initiative to realize it would be a no-brainer commercial success. The Taupo Council and Tourist Department and DOC (Department of Conservation) should demand it.

Austrian angler, Herbert, needing TRM’s wheel barrow to deliver some tasty samples for a guest’s summer birthday BBQ. Just do it.

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Letters to editor Dear Sir MPI - Brains of a chocolate fish I’ve seen chooks with their heads cut off with more brains than MPI. A friend of mine Graham Sturgeon told me that a mate of his has been sent a letter from MPI saying that it is illegal to bait his pig traps with dead wild goats.

According to the MPI this is against the law. When pointed out that DoC regularly shoot goats on the Coromandel and leave them for the wild pigs to eat, MPI said they don’t care about that, but that he could be spreading foot and mouth disease. Have you ever heard of such baloney?

Then they threatened this bloke that they would come and 1080 his property. His response was that he wanted 1080 banned as they wanted the pigs to eat.

Landcare recently caught and collared a heap of small wild pigs with tracking collars, so that DoC could shoot them from choppers, when the collared pigs joined up with other wild pigs.

The whole episode turned into a joke, DoC didn’t follow-up and now local hunters are catching pigs with collars on them.

What is more disgusting and shameful is that the hunters found that the collars have cut into the necks of the wild pigs, with rotting flesh all around the collar.

The pigs were unable to eat and had great difficulty running from the dogs, because they couldn’t breathe.

How cruel is this practice? Where is the SPCA? The hunting and fishing fraternity are going to have a lot of problems with these two brainless government departments, with DoC legally killing thousands of native birds including kiwi with every 1080 drop they do.

The MPI allow commercial fish-

ers to take 90mm scallops for example as well as 250mm snapper, so where are we headed too?

To cap everything off our clown of a PM stands up and announces in front of the TV cameras that we will be predator free by 2050? He said ‘there won’t be a possum, rat, weasel, stoat alive in NZ again.’

Where and which planet do these clowns come from?

In 2050 every species of vermin will be alive and well, just wait and see.

This Predator free programme should be called ‘the extermination of wild pigs and deer’, as this is what it is, and these idiots are trying to kill every species of wild game.

That’s the truth of this programme.

I’ve also just heard that they plan to lower the snapper daily bag. These people must be the lowest scum ever born without a doubt. This national party has got to go at all cost.

Dick Featherstone Thames

Shame shame shame

Dear Sir Here we go battling to save our fishery and we see on TV professional recreational fishers, mechanical harvesting with electric reels.

This is not fishing, it’s just disgraceful promotional display for the sponsors of the programme and their crappy products.

I bet their sales rise and the TV shows ratings rise as those without any conscience delight in watching this crap.

And to make it worst the people using the electric reels are not even holding onto the rods or even fighting the fish.

How in blue blazes do these clowns expect us to get support for banning bulk harvesters and getting better effective management of the recreational fishery when they do this.

www.baitboards.co.nz

I am disgusted.

Bruce Johnston Waiuku

Rock lobster review

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the National Rock Lobster Management Group aim to ensure the long-term sustainability of rock lobster populations throughout the CRA5 fishery in Canterbury and Marlborough and will be undertaking a review.

Illegal take could lead to localized depletion and reduce the benefits all sectors realize from the resource.

MPI’s manager of Inshore Fisheries Steve Halley says, “MPI knows that the CRA5 fishery is affected by an ‘opportunistic’ black market with rock lobsters sold on local markets and is actively responding to this illegal activity.

“Over time this has potentially serious implications for the sustainability of this fishery and so it is important that we consider all possible ways in which illegal activity can be minimized.

“Before an official consultation MPI and the National Rock Lobster Management Group are looking for feedback on 2 initiatives successfully introduced into the Kaikoura Marine Management Area in 2014 that are now proposed for the whole of the CRA5 fishery.

“Clipping the central telson (tail) is a way to clearly show that a lobster has been taken by a recreational fisher and not for sale. In addition, an accumulation limit of 18 rock lobsters (3 daily bag limits) prevents people from storing and transporting large quantities of rock lobster for sale or barter.”

Rec fishers will lose out – big time

Dear Sir The biggest issue is public apathy and then we have apolitical advocacy groups that drink cups of tea with the MPI officials that have been caught lying and failing to prosecute for fear of falling out with commercial. MPI are required by law to consult. Consultation “is to seeks other opinions for decisions already made.”

They are taking us round in circles all the while planning to introduce licenses, ITQ, lower bag limits, increased size and stating this is required as the population grows. So they increase our tonnage but reduce bag limits, then increase commercial tonnage which they can catch. It’s well past time the complacent rec fishers woke up to what’s going on. This is all about taking the rec fish and giving it to commercial for export.

Dr Randall Bess was commissioned by the NZ Initiative to produce a report on the The state of recreational fisheries management in New Zealand’, which clearly shows the damage that can be caused by someone that knows little about the recreational fishing industry.

The people funding Bess are the NZ Initiative. These guys are the big business heavy weights that dictate to government want they want and when they want it. These guys want the recreational fishing catch for their commercial mates, end of story.

This is the point that recreational fishers need to understand very clearly – big business has the recreational catch in its sights and they will do everything they can to take this from us. We can’t fight this group but we need to make it unviable for any politician to do this. This is the crunch for recreational fishing. If we win this battle we can win back our fishery.

The funny thing is we tried to stage several protests and not a dolphin lover amongst those that turned up - none of the rec fishing groups are united and while this remains the govt are winning as they have us where they want us. This is about all the fish in the sea not just dolphins.

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Believe it or not while dolphin are very important they are not the priority, Without protection for ALL the fish dolphin will be extinct as they are bi-catch to the targeted fish species.

MPI officials have been caught lying and nothing is Dunne. Blatant offending by commercial is covered up. Corruption and collusion is rife.

The MPI have breached the Fisheries Act and get away with these crimes. Nathan Guy is a bloody joke.

Nothing more and nothing less.

Iwi want to have ownership and take control and groups like Legasea are working with them to ensure this happens (MANY will argue against me - nut just wait and see who’s actually behind all this). It’s the big business interests that are pushing the MPI our only hope is to use our VOTE to make sure this doesn’t happen - NZ first are the ONLY political party that will recreational fishers get to keep what’s ours. The greens, labour and national have all been bought off. So call me a liar or whatever you want but just wait and see what happens. Iwi are already against the Marl Sounds rec reserve and iwi here are against the Hauraki Gulf Rec Reserve and have started making big changes in the Sea Change and Hauraki Gulf Forum.

G Carter Waikato

Maori Greed

Dear Sir, This issue about the Kermadec area becoming a marine reserve with Maori wanting compensation makes me personally feel very sad. It’s only about money and not about saving some small areas from certain depletion of marine species. Or in other words greed.

What upsets me most of all, is that Maori use the Treaty of Waitangi as a reason why they are complaining.

At the date of the signing of the Treaty, the Kermadec area would have been totally un-

known, unexplored, and even if it was, would not have been designated as part of New Zealand.

If it goes to the United Nations, so be it but shame on them if they rule Maori will be compensated for things that happened so long ago and people of today just want to cash in on the gravy train. Besides there’s no full blooded Maoris now.

Some who want more under the Treaty are very minority Maori, only 16%, 10% or less. To be fair it is only a minority of greedy “Maori” who lay claims for monetary gain. I know number with Maori ancestry who do not support the greedy ones.

The Maori claimants are not being true New Zealanders and in the spirit of working together.

P. Smith, Hawkes Bay

MPI Bias

I got to thinking after the commercial fish dumping was revealed a few months back, how biased the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) is against the recreational public. Remember the “Coast Watch” type programmes of MPI prosecuting recreational fishers or bogus recreational fishers.

It’s quite ironic that when the MPI prosecute recreational fisherman, the rules are clear cut and it’s lauded all over television of the need to clamp down on illegal fishing to protect the fishery.

When do MPI show on television, the commercial malpractices being apprehended? There’s never a showing. But then perhaps MPI just give a friendly warning to the Minister of Fisheries’ corporate mates and they’re never prosecuted?

The reality is off the coast the fishery is being plundered and the very same Ministry tries to hide from the public crimes like fish dumping.

It’s time for government to come clean with the taxpaying recreational public and “to protect the fishery.”

Here in Marlborough the recreational public were discriminated against over blue cod. Rules, closures, stupid slot rules for the recreational public, while commercial carried on unhindered. Discrimination is still there. Set netting for moki and butterfish has recreational limited to a few months with their 60 metre nets while commercial with several 500 metre nets, fish twelve months of the year.

Roll on next year it’s election year.

Jack Hobbs Marlborough

Crayfish the new currency

Dear Sir Recreational fishers are angry at this biased programme. I used to love watching Hyundai Country Calendar on TV1 on Saturday night. But given events lately about the corruption with the fishing industry and MPI fisheries managers, I found the show about the live crayfish that are being exported extremely disturbing.

These two brothers made extraordinary wealth by exporting one of our precious natural resources. The nerve of them and to be so proud of this act, which I regard as theft and insulting.

To add salt to the wound, they only left the sick crayfish for local trade.

The reporter tried to validate these two families as being community driven and generous.

The fact is, to do any of the fabulous things they were celebrating on the programme, they had to remove hundreds of tonnes of crayfish out of that sea to do it.

The programme seemed to imply that if it wasn’t for these two families, the community would have died.

NO, NO, NO if it wasn’t for the crayfish, the community would have died. Because if you took the crayfish away, none of this would have been possible.

I would even say that if these brothers left the area which would have left more crayfish still in the sea,

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then the very much more lucrative recreational and tourist industry could have moved in and the town could have flourished.

The area of water where the boat was shown dropping and picking up pots, could have made perfect shallow water diving for dive schools.

The employment of the two families in the commercial fishing industry was pathetic, one engineer, a couple of deckhands and some part-time packers. Of course, the little town was going broke because their most valued resource had the least possible benefit to the local community as it was cheaper for the two brothers to do so.

The next thing is the fuel station. It is highly likely the fuel station was retained by one of the families because they needed it for their cray fishing operation and the cheapest way to buy petrol is in bulk.

Both boats had outboards on them, a rare sight, so they had access to cheap fuel and because when you use petrol on the water as a business, they would claim back the road tax (something recreational fishers can’t do).

The purpose of the vineyard and the 40-hectare farm would have been a tax right off because there is no way these people would be happy to put anything back into the country that gave them the crayfish quota, in the form of company tax.

There were mounted animal heads on the wall of one of the brother’s homes, at the cost of many thousands of dollars; these hunting trips were probably put down as marketing and tax deductible as well.

If you are going to catch crayfish, it is economic lunacy to catch them by the tonne by so few people. This method is detrimental to the environment and the local community.

The alternative is when thousands of recreational divers and fishers catch a lesser amount of crayfish but spend significantly more money in the local community.

I was disgusted at this iconic TV

programme that has now clearly become involved in the commercial fishing promotion. This was just another example of the ecological disaster that accrues when politicians use the wild fishery to boost our export earnings, with very little return if any to the government and our economy versus significant returns to an elite few.

Rhys Smith Fisheries Consultant Thames 07 8688103

Great Issue

Dunne having trouble with his boys By those bastards in the Waikato We are so proud to learn that MPI senior management is having trouble sleeping and that the fisheries management division of the MPI is well past being a joke to the extent that it has finally come unstuck and is fast becoming history,.

In fact we have learnt that the big boss upstairs is absolutely furious, to the extent he’s spending most of his day working with the boys in the engine room.

His whole world is crumbling around him, he can read it in our letters, the fishing newspaper, he can watch it on TV, and listen to it on the radio, and he’s beginning to understand that it’s all true. The final nails are being driven into their coffins.

Some knew nothing about the Operation Achilles and other reports while those that orchestrated it and the other two that perverted the course of justice by sweeping it under the carpet have been banished to new positions in other Ministries.

But while they originally knew nothing they allowed things to continue once they found out. The word that comes to mind is corruption.

Then the big boss starts to find out about another botched investigation that has tripled the costs of the enquiry and pending prosecutions.

Then blow it all here comes another Trios, new Observer Programme revelations and lots more.

Yeah to work for the government.

The big question what other criminal activity have these folk been involved with – cover-ups, backroom dealings and escapades behind the bike shed.

The time is coming when our front cover can return to fishing stories and we may finally have someone in the MPI fisheries management that has actually spent time on the water and knows what they’re talking about and how to do something properly.

Dear Sir What an excellent edition of “Fishing and Outdoors” in September. The front page story was inspirational and your paper hit the hard issues inside.

It should be compulsory reading to alert the many who enjoy the Kiwi tradition of fishing, hunting and shooting heritage.

However it is under threat from all sorts of sources. Poisons like 1080 and brodifacoum are madness. The sea fisheries mismanagement and unethical practices by the Ministry of Primary Industries - can you believe MPI has prosecuted just 1% of those commercial boats caught dumping fish?

One or two correspondents drew attention to the lack of energy by organisations like Fish and Game NZ and the NZ Deerstalkers Association. NZDA has opted for backing the Game Council.

Did NZDA not learn its lesson from the Recreational Hunting Advisory Committee of the 1970s.

That was gagged and bound and totally obligated to government.

The Game Council today is the same.

While most of the hunting magazines do not have letters to the editor, your paper stands head and shoulders above them as a true paper informing and a forum for readers. Absolutely delighted Keep up the excellent work. Waikato Zachary Walton Wairarapa

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MPI – a dunne deal

The Heron Report into why the MPI did not take action and prosecute commercial fishing vessels for fish dumping and non-reporting supports our stance on articles and stories that we have published over the last four years.

Deliberate acts of perverting the course of justice through repetitious mismanagement and bad leadership have shown the MPI to have more holes than a block of Swiss cheese.

Newshub brought the MPI into disrepute earlier in the year when they exposed the level of mis-management within the MPI, when they screened footage of fishing boats illegally dumping fish over a lengthy period.

The MPI is charged with ensuring that our fisheries are sustainable yet they have fully backed the commercial industry which has systematically let them down. The report has shown that the MPI are completely and ut-

terly without good leadership and rotten to the very core.

Two of the instigators Gallacher and Coleman to the flawed operations have jumped ship, leaving the ministry in turmoil. While the statute of limitations has allowed the industry and MPI staff to escape prosecution is shows the depths they have gone to, too deceive and cover-up their actions.

While the Director General Dunne emphatically denies Gallacher and Coleman were sacked it’s pretty strange they left they well paid jobs simultaneously just after the offending became public.

QC Heron’s decision says the ministries decision not to prosecute was “flawed” and the result of poor internal communications and a desire to avoid “embarrassment” is an understatement.

The Minister Nathan Guy has systematically supported the cover-ups and denied any wrong doing which the reports reveals were blatant untruths.

Charged with managing our fishery the ministry time and time again has shown to be lackluster and leaderless.

There needs to be law changes and that should include ensuring that bureaucrats are held accountable for blatant offending and cover-ups such as these.

New Zealand First the only political party that will hold the MPI ac-

Marlborough coastal waters Boaties and anyone else out in Marlborough coastal waters need to know that the local maritime radio frequency has changed and that they should tune in to Channel 18 for local weather and messages from Saturday 1 October.

The distress channel – Chan-

nel 16 – is NOT changing.

Marlborough Harbourmaster Alex van Wijngaarden says the change has been necessary because of the need to make space on the bandwidth for some newly allocated international services for ship tracking and data services.

countable has called for a commission of inquiry while the other political parties remain silent. They are the only political party, which genuinely have the interests of the fish at heart.

This episode has shown once and for all that the QMS system does not work as the commercial industry rushes into damage control to protect its already tarnished image.

The people of New Zealand deserve better than a ministry plagued with an industry that rife with continual denials, lies, deceit, dumping, misreporting and political interference, Now the ministry has supported the building of fishing boats that are capable of discarding fish through an outlet hidden below the deck, away from the cameras where unwanted fish can be ejected below the water line.

This deceit has to stop and the Fisheries should be a stand-alone ministry run by people that have the fish at heart.

Yet they play along with big business to place further cuts on recreational catch, introduce licences and give more and more fish to commercial for export.

The current MPI are the puppets of whichever political party is in power and they will sell their souls to support the commercial industry to attain the ‘export double value’ which the current government has set as a target, and they have proven to NZ that It’s time the ministry had a complete cleanout from the top down.

MPI will never gain the trust of the public when TV3 clearly showed that David Turner Fisheries Management has clearly attempted to impede the investigation by requested documents not be released. What will it take to send these guys to jail.

Existing VHF radio handsets should all be able to pick up Channel 18 without difficulty, he said.

The message advising people to switch from the existing Channel 19 to Channel 18 from 1 October is being widely promoted by Maritime New Zealand and the Coastguard.

MARITIME VHF CHANNELS CHANGE FROM 1 OCTOBER 2016 For more information go to retune.co.nz

What’s happening: • CHANNEL 16 – the existing distress channel will not be changing in any area.

• You will not need to purchase a new VHF maritime radio.

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• To access your local repeater or listen to the weather forecast you may need to switch to a new channel.

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Didymo Dave recognized in Environmental Awards

‘Didymo’ Dave Cade The Visitor Solutions Environmental Leadership Award acknowledges programmes or individuals who have influenced the ecological worldview of participants and/or demonstrated a significant commitment to conservation or protection of outdoor recreation and adventure places.

Dave’s Cade (Didymo Dave) mission to protect the rivers of the Central North Island from the spread of Didymo has become legendary.

Most of his work has been self-funded through other conservation activity, in particular inventive ways to recycle. These efforts have, in turn, built wider conservation involvement opportunities for communities. His work in leading by example has sent a clear message to the public about the contribution they can make.

Environmental Leadership Award winner ‘Didymo’ Dave Cade was a finalist in three award categories this year thanks to his conservation crusade to protect the rivers of the central North Island, while Geoff Spearpoint took home the Outstanding Volunteer Award thanks to his voluntary initiatives to maintain back-country huts.

The organization behind New Zealand’s national trail, a man on a mission to protect our rivers, and a couple who have helped educate generations were among the award winners at the annual New Zealand Recreation Association Outdoor Awards, held in Wellington recently.

This year’s Supreme Award was presented to husband and wife team

John and Christine Furminger, a couple who have between them laid the foundation for many of New Zealand’s most respected outdoor education programmes over the past 40 years.

The Skills Active Supreme Award recognizes an individual, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the outdoor recreation and education sector.

Winner: John and Christine Furminger Over 40 years, John and Christine have demonstrated consistent service to develop what are now some of the stand-out outdoor education programmes for young people in New Zealand. These programmes include Motutapu Outdoor Adventure Camp, Tihoi Adventure School and the Kahunui outdoor education campus at St Cuthbert’s College. At each of these they have mentored and developed young leaders, improved programmes and developed environmental efforts.

Finalists: Rachael Moore; ‘Didymo’ Dave Cade.

NZRA Chief Executive Andrew Leslie said the awards provided an important acknowledgement for the people and organisations whose efforts markedly improved outdoor experiences in New Zealand.

“People like John and Christine Furminger, Dave Cade and Geoff Spearpoint contribute a massive amount of personal time and effort into creating better environmental outcomes and ensuring people have the necessary skills and facilities to enjoy the outdoors,” Mr Leslie said.

“This in turn leads to stronger communities, safer outdoor experiences and happier, healthier people. It is only fitting that these people who have devoted their lives to making the world a better place receive some portion the recognition they deserve.”

Organisations featured too, with this year’s Outstanding Event Award going to YMCA Auckland for its Family Camps, held at Camp Adair. The twice-yearly camps have run since

The 2016 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships were held recently in Canada with rep-

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World Fly Fishing Championships 2016

Let the games begin... 2016 World Fly Fishing Champs. Silver Flies ready for action ! — with Sam Bourne, Cory Scott and Dan Comer.

2014, and have found success in their targeted efforts to encourage competence and participation in the outdoors amongst families who otherwise would have found it difficult to access the outdoors together.

The organizational Excellence Award for 2016 went to Te Araroa Trail for its sustainable, considered and collaborative approach to developing and maintaining a trail network that stretches the length of New Zealand. The New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association was also highly commended in the Organizational Excellence category.

“It was heartening to see so many organisations nominated for their efforts to improve the way we experience the great outdoors,” Mr Leslie said.

“It is vital we continue to recognize the efforts of our outdoor organisations, paid workers and volunteers so they can find support for their efforts to improve outdoor experiences and foster the love of New Zealand’s great outdoors that is ingrained as a part of our culture.”

The Outdoor Awards were presented at an awards dinner held at the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor during NZRA’s Outdoors Forum. Award sponsors included recreation consultancy Visitor Solutions, the New Zealand Alpine Club, the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council, and industry training organization Skills Active Aotearoa.

Spain defended its fly-fishing crown at the 36th annual FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championship recently held in Vail, Colorado, in the USA, with France taking second and the U.S. finishing third.

In the individual standings, Julien Daguillanes, of France, first; Jordi Cortina, of Spain, taking second; Americans Lance Egan and Pat Weiss took third and fourth, The Americans had four finishers in the top 15, an unprecedented achievement for the team that finished last at the World Fly Fishing Championship in 1997 and has been steadily improving since then.

Egan said he was able to finish well by fishing making the most of the bad beats he was dealt.

The athletes randomly draw what beat — or section of the river — they will receive in competition.

“I drew a beat that produced the least amount of fish and managed to catch more fish than all other competitors combined,” Egan said: “I drew two good beats and two dreadful beats.”

Egan also won the Slyvan Lake portion of the competition at the State Park in Eagle.

“In the lake, you make your own luck,” he said.

Other venues included the Eagle and Colorado rivers in Eagle County and the Blue River in Summit County.

Egan caught 60 fish over the course of the three-day competition; Cortina caught 70 and Daguillanes caught 86 trout. Those fish were then measured for length and each competitor received a point total based on number of fish caught and the length of those fish. Daguillanes biggest fish was a whopping 32-inch trout caught in water surrounded by privately owned banks on the Eagle River.

“It’s hard to fight a fish like this because we lost a lot of time,” he said of the 6 to 7 minute struggle it took to bring in the enormous trout. “But it’s very important to have a big fish.”

Daguillanes, 34, has been competing for half his life, but has never achieved

a result as momentous as the individual World Championship gold medal he was awarded at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail on Saturday.

A total of 3,802 fish were caught by the 25 participating teams in the three-day competition, which wrapped up late Friday evening. The Spanish team caught 302 fish, the French team caught 293 fish, and the American team caught 289 fish.

Most of the Spanish team was experiencing their first trip to the U.S. during the 36th World Fly Fishing Championships. Despite not having much time to get used to the surroundings, they managed to defend their title.

“The rivers were perfect for us, and the organization was good,” said David Arcay Fernandez, of the Spanish team. “We are very happy to win in the U.S. because it’s the best of fly-fishing, so winning here is very good for us.”

Also last year’s winners at the 35th World Fly Fishing Championship, Spain now faces the prospect of attempting a three-peat at next year’s World Championship.

The medal presentation also included a ceremonial passing of the championship scroll and box to the country of Slovakia, which will host the 37th World Fly Fishing Championship next year.

The Weird World of Fish and Game

Dave Witherow

In the last Special Issue of its house magazine the CEO of Fish and Game, Bryce Johnson, wrote about the present state and future prospects ly tough fishing conditions. for New Zealand’s freshwater fishWith ice-like slippery conditions eries. He lamented the customary on the Diable River combined with hypocrisies of central and local govsuper-fast water the team came out ernment, and the ongoing failure of the river sectors a bit battered of the Department of Conservation and bruised, but held in there with to do its job - especially when this some in consistent results across might annoy its political overseers. the board. The Diable is not called He described Fish and Game’s long the devils river for nothing, down involvement in legal processes - Resteep banks with powerful cur- gional and District Plans, Water Conrents with rocks and large boulders. servation Orders, and environmental Anglers are recommended to have litigation in general - and concluded knee, shin pads and a stout wad- that, despite the occasional successing stick. PFDs are compulsory. es, further large investment in this There was a rotation of the three area would be more or less a waste lakes. Barriere, Renversi, and des of money. It would “actually be irreIles. Rather deep and not a lot sponsible to. . . continue down this of shallow areas, stocked with path”, he said, because not only is rainbows, brook, and lake trout. litigation cripplingly expensive, but With water temperatures very even when we win in court there high on all three lakes, fishing was is no long-term gain, because the very tough. During the competi- government just changes the rules. tion days some cooler weather It would make more sense, Mr Johncame about, and things turned son thinks, for Fish and Game to on a little with the team working move away from litigation and conout some great tactics to end up centrate its efforts on “making the with some very good results on public aware of what is happening”. the lake sessions, giving the team This would be a better strategy, bea respectable 5th place overall. cause the politicians, to remain in A well organised competition office, must respond to the views with some great angling by all of the electorate, so by “harnessing teams made an enjoyable experi- public opinion” we could manipuence for the team, all developing late the political process and shift our skills and techniques further. things in the direction we want.

Thanks must go to Neil Hirtzl for This sounds reasonable enough. captaining the team and a big But it is based on the assumption thanks to Rod & Reel for kitting that the ever-deteriorating state of out in our team uniform and gear. our natural environment - the loss Here are the full results: 1st Colin of our rivers and the poisoning of Huff (Canada); 2nd Sorin Comsa our land and air and water - is only (Canada); 3rd Ivo Balinov (Canada); happening because of widespread 13th Peter Scott; 17th John Gum- public unawareness. The poor old mer; 25th Johannes Krill; 27th public is being kept in the dark, and Paul Baker; 37th Mark Clasper. all that is needed, according to this Teams placings were: 1st Canada theory, is enough hard-hitting PR White; 2nd Scotland Men; 3rd Aus- to bring Mr and Mrs Average Dim tralia Gold; 4th Northern Ireland; Citizen up to speed. Once this has 5th New Zealand; 6th England been achieved - once the true extent Men; 7th Canada Red; 8th South of their stupefaction has been exAfrica Men; 9th Australia Green; posed - the populace will rise up in 10th Cymru Wales; 11th South righteous wrath, elect civilized leadAfrica Ladies; 12th Isle of Man; ers, and put an end to the rorting.

13th Commonwealth Friend- The snag is, however, that there is no ship; 14th Scotland Ladies. evidence for this viewpoint. There is,

2016 Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships resentation from fourteen teams to fish the Diable River, Lac (Lake) Renversis, Lac Des Isles and Lac Barriere.

The fly fishing was extremely challenging but the NZ team adjusted well and fine-tuned their tactics and techniques to suit.

The team were Mark Clasper, Peter Scott, Johannes Krill, Paul Baker, John Gummer and Neil Hirtzl (captain).

The Team performed very well under some extreme-

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in fact, a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Thousands of books, documentaries, full-length feature films, and magazine articles are produced every year with the sole purpose of informing the global populace that the environment is in a very bad way. Not just the odd river, lake, or forest. Not just a few extinctions here and there: tigers, rhinos, blue whales.

It is much worse than that, as we are perpetually being reminded. The situation is pretty-well terminal, and if the scientists have got their sums even approximately right we now have almost zero chance of escaping an almighty bust-up.

Wholesale catastrophe is on the way - nothing less, in fact, than the banjaxing of the whole festering planet.

Everyone, surely, now knows about this. It is the subject of endless high-powered scientific conclaves and well-reported global extravaganzas featuring our so-called leaders. The same dire calamities are routinely predicted, yet no solution ever emerges, and year after year and decade after decade the good citizens of the world keep supporting the same duplicitous swindlers whose policies of exploitation and unlimited growth will guarantee no other future. And they do this quite voluntarily, knowing the score, because money and possessions and holidays abroad are more important to most people than anything else. In the face of this myopic reality it hardly seems a great idea for Bryce Johnson to advise a big new investment in PR. There are other difficulties with PR, as Bryce Johnson should know very well. Ten years ago, in Christchurch, Fish and Game held a significant conference aimed at addressing the problems that were already becoming apparent from the intensification of dairying. There was representation from every region, since even at this early stage it was recognized that dairying, with its attendant demands for water, was far more than a local issue. But it was in Canterbury - already a graveyard of once-glorious troutstreams - where the new water-grab was most advanced, and so Christchurch was chosen as the venue.

It was a memorable, inspiring conference. Speaker after speaker roused the audience, evoking the glory days of New Zealand angling, of rivers sacrificed, salmon-runs extinguished, promises made, promises broken. And in the end a budget of $500,000 was allocated to a National Rivers Campaign - by far the most ambitious PR operation ever undertaken by Fish and Game.

But this campaign never hap-

pened.

Successive commencement dates were announced, and then postponed. The promotional material was never produced, and regional co-ordination - to be synchronized out of Wellington - was an absolute failure. The allocated money - the whole half-million - remained untouched in the bank.

Time passed and still nothing happened. And as the initial enthusiasm waned, a new narrative began to be heard. The campaign, Mr Johnson now explained, had “been overtaken by events”. “The government is on to the problem”, and “the public are already on our side”.

Even the Prime Minister had seen the light: he was in our camp now, Bryce reckoned. And, given these happier circumstances, it would be foolish to expend such a large sum of licenceholders’ funds on a campaign that was no longer necessary.

These yarns, of course, were a smokescreen. Nothing had changed. The dairy industry continued to explode in the decade following Fish and Game’s conference in Christchurch, and huge drafts of public money were allocated to private irrigation.

There was no official enlightenment, and the water still left in our rivers is still being stolen in the most blatant water-grab ever. Fish and Game’s Rivers Campaign was not “overtaken by events”. It was abandoned. It was allowed to die - not because it was superfluous - but because an operation of this magnitude was far beyond Fish and Game’s head-office capacities.

PR, no matter how competently done, has one big defect - it is impossible to measure the results. The same outcome might have happened anyway - even without the PR. But where litigation is concerned there is no such difficulty. Win or lose, the outcome is clear, and it is not just a matter of coincidence that Fish and Game’s greatest successes have been achieved through litigation.

Bryce Johnson now argues that the cost of this (at around $8 million over sixteen years), is somehow prohibitive - but in fact it amounts to less than seven percent of total Fish and Game income during that period. And, far from being wasted, this money has mitigated some of the worst excesses of the hydrobuilders, water-thieves, and polluters.

It has delivered Conservation Orders on many of our best rivers (fifteen of them in total, to date), and has ensured the survival of numerous small rivers and streams that would otherwise have been drained dry.

These are real achievements, and to change direction now, as Bryce Johnson is suggesting, would be to throw away the only effective strategy that Continued on page 11...

View the newspaper online at www.fishingoutdoors.org – and advertise online with us Continued from page 10...

Fish and Game currently possesses.

Nothing in this world is permanent.

Holding-actions - small victories, locally-inspired - may be the best that we can hope for now. This, for our time, may be all we can do. With determination, we can slow things down, provide a breathing-space, save the river for another season.

And in the end, if the people wake up, there might just be something left.

Dave Witherow is an angler and hunter, living in Balfour, Southland. He recently resigned after many years on Fish and Game’s governing body, the New Zealand Council. This assembly, in Witherow’s opinion, is terminally incompetent, and beyond hope of reform. “It is difficult to think of any useful initiative that has originated in the NZC for a decade at least”, Witherow says. “It now acts as little more

than a rubber stamp for the whims of its long-term CEO, Bryce Johnson, and it wastes huge sums of licenceholders’ funds on vindictive legalities aimed at any councillor who attempts to point out the true state of affairs”.

The real work of Fish and Game is done by its Regional Councils, according to Witherow: “Many of the regional people are very good, and it is only by their efforts that any kind of line is being held against the destruction of our wildlife habitat, especially our rivers”. “But the NZC is a dead loss”. “It is a gang of amateurs, mostly ill-informed, endlessly congratulating itself on non-existent achievements. In the article (“just a small sample of the bigger picture”), Witherow has illustrated what passes for strategic thinking in the NZC.

Tournament Calendar 2016 - 2017

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Book review Book Release

NEW RELEASE – from 1st November From the author of the best seller Injun Joe: The Legend of Smoking Joe Collins.

Blood Brothers tracks the Podjursky brothers lives.

SO FAR

SO GOOD

It’s hunting. It’s flying. It’s living.

It’s two adventurous New Zealand brothers ‘doin’ it’ the Kiwi way.

The book will be available in all good bookstores, and on-line.

Retail $39.99

CRAIG POTTON

BOOK REVIEW

1951. Czech miner Joseph Divis was a keen photographer and a very good one at that.

While working at mines at Waihi, Blackball (West Coast) and Waiutu, he took many photographs.

He loved Waiutu and when he died in 1967 he was one of the last inhabitants of the Waiutu ghost town. Wait was one of the richest gold-bearBook Review ing quartz reefs in New Zealand.

Through the Eyes of a Miner “Through the Eyes of a Miner”

by Simon Nathan. is a collection of Divis’s photoPrice $49.99 graphs and the life of the man. In reviewed by Tony Orman doing so, author Simon Nathan Ever wandered off a side road and has skillfully painted a picture of comes across some old mining life in a gold mining community, ghost town? Westland is the sort of and social and sporting events place where you can do this. I did and the 1931 jubilee. Davis had a one day and chanced upon Waiutu. knack of using a shutter time reIf ever you are in the Reefton area lease in his photos so that he was go and have a short drive to the able to dart out from behind the Waiutu. There’s some good trout camera to be in the photograph! fishing rivers around and some Even if you haven’t been to hunting where DOC haven’t blitzed Reefton, this book is a superb dethe public lands. A short diversion piction by both photos and text, from trout fishing is a fascinating of life in Waiutu. The text is invisit to what remains of the old town formative but concise and succinct.

Waiutu was remarkably long lived This fine book is distributed by as gold mining towns go, starting Burton and Potton, publishers in about 1900 and finally succumb- Nelson. It’s an absorbing read and ing to become a ghost town about a ideal book for the coffee table.

NEW RELEASE - 1st November

a three-month traverse of the southern alps

So Far, So Good

By Craig Potton

The book follows a three month traverse of the Southern Alps by pre-eminent New Zealand landscape photographer Craig Potton, who in 1980 embarked on a tramping and mountaineering trip that started at Milford Sound and ended in Nelson Lakes National Park.

Now, over 35 years later, Craig Potton recounts the experience in So Far, So Good.

In part, this is the story of four friends embarking on a youthful adventure in the mountains, dealing with all of the challenges that travelling in this environment presents. But

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it is also a thoughtful reflection on what it means to spend an extended period of time in the wilderness.

Heavily illustrated with photographs taken on the trip, this is a book for anyone with an interest in tramping and mountaineering, and the experience of wild places.

This is a unique New Zealand adventure story, that will appeal to anyone with an interest in our outdoors and especially tramping or mountaineering.

The book is beautifully produced and illustrated.

Craig Potton is one of New Zealand’s best-known landscape photographers, and a noted conservationist. He is the author of many New Zealand books, including the best-selling New Zealand Aotearoa, Lost in New Zealand, New Zealand’s Wilderness Heritage (with Les Molloy), Craig Potton New Zealand and Moment and Memory. Craig’s profile has increased over recent years, as he has established himself as a TV presenter, with two documentary series on wild rivers and wild coasts screening on prime-time television to widespread acclaim.

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Fishing Industry admits continual failures

Brock Terry recently received Stella Awards on behalf of Trev Terry Marine Taupo for winning the Best Independent Retail Team and also Lisa Gray for winning the Independent Retail Star Performer Award.

By Graham Carter

A recent Seafood Industry PR release shows how lacking in intelligence the industry is as they finally admit the Industries continual failures and that a discards policy review is needed before cameras are used. This is an admission that the cameras will not work and fix the issue much like speed cameras don’t stop speeding.

The report says that “putting cameras on boats to address discarding of non-target or undersized fish will not be an instant fix”.

And they are so right, what is needed is an industry wide attitude change. The industry needs to consider the fish first and their pockets tenth.

The reason there’s less discard in the deepwater fishery compared to the inshore fishery which again is correct buts it also an admission that they are doing it wrong.

The deepwater fishery is not a mixed fishery which proves beyond doubt that bulk harvesting methods should be further out.

The point the industry misses on is that is all to do with the area they fish and the methods used.

If the newly developed PSH Tiaki net works well then that is fine. If

they have the same catch rate as cray boats then it’s no different than trawling with nets, as the PSH is just a cod end while they still use the old and outdated trawl nets. Nothing has really changed. Cameras haven’t changed the methods of fishing.

The industry says that ‘like every other fishing country, New Zealand is grappling with the challenge of managing discards, harvested fish and aquatic life that is returned to the sea.’ This is only partially correct as its more so grappling with the decision to change the methods of fishing.

Visiting US academic Anastasia Telesetsky presented a research paper in Wellington titled: Fishing for the Future: Addressing Fisheries Discards and Increasing Export Value for New Zealand’s Sustainable Fisheries that is a useful addition to a complex debate.

She wrote that “the discarding of fish is a major threat to the New Zealand fishing industry because of its potential to undermine the integrity of the quota management system if the discarding is not reported and factored into the cap set by the total allowable catch.”

She found that “overall, the trend of reducing actual numbers of discards from the New Zealand industry has been positive”. But what she failed to say was that it was due to deliberate unreporting.

Her report said that in the deepwater fisheries, where the bulk of the total catch is made, the percentage of discards is “quite low”.

Again she is correct but again she failed to state that the deepwater fishery is not a mixed fishery so the likelihood of catching other species is incredibly low.

This deliberate deception and misinformation is typical of an industry in denial and avoiding facing reality.

She attributed this marked decline to “a combination of better fisheries management plans, observer coverage and a change in the deepwater fishing culture, when in fact the truth is that MPI fisheries management have been caught out deliberately hiding the truth and colluding with the industry to hide continual offending.

She goes on to say that ‘discarding and dumping are negative practices in the public mind but what is not understood is that all undersized quota species are required by law to be returned to the sea. By doing so, fishermen are observing the law, not breaking it.”

The big issue here is that the industry shouldn’t be catching it in the first place - mesh size and the methods used is the issue as they catch all sizes which are being discarded or returned dead.

Those discards which are factored into the Total Allowable Commercial Catch, they are not additional to it, shouldn’t be necessary.

What is illegal is discarding QMS species above any minimum legal size, a practice not condoned by the industry, yet they continue to blatantly do it, and even deny the practice when caught on the cameras.

The answer is relatively simple – BAN ALL INSHORE FISHING FOR EXPORT She adds that “before electronic monitoring is implemented, the MPI must make important decisions about how it intends to handle future discard incidents. Will New Zealand attempt to implement a full discard ban such as that in the European Union and risk potential bankruptcy of some portions of the fishing industry which cannot afford to land fish with low or no value. Or will New Zealand recognize some threshold of legal operational discarding that will not have cumulative impacts on marine resources?

However that’s not our problem if you can take this comment into consideration you lose the fishery, they need to figure out what the fish want then work out a system to work within that. Any person or government that makes a system to suit the people will lose their fishery.

If you think about the advances in population, technology and access to the fishery are all things that could destroy it.

The MPI and commercial industry have to manage those things so it’s not overfished – yet they still fish with a 25 m trawler towing two nets behind it.

The current attitude within the industry is by far the biggest problem.

Most recreational fishers already discard live fish which is what the fancy PSH net is supposedly designed to do.

The industry continues to bleat about having recreational fishers recording their catch. So maybe if the recreational sector did this and it proves beyond doubt that we are not catching what the MPI and industry say we are, it could be a good thing providng the MPI put in writing that the bag limit will increase if its proven to be so.

Watch out for the big green finger The commercial export fishing industry is still trying to get their greedy hands on the recreational fish.

I’m not sure if their latest plan is through arrogance or stupidity but it could be a disaster for recreational, customary and commercial fishers.

I’m talking about the very public attempt by the industry through Dr. Bess an ex-commercial fisher from Canada who states that the recreational fishers are a threat to the sustainability of the NZ fishery.

That’s impossible because the recreational fishers are no threat to the deep water fishery, Hoki, Roughy or

Aquaculture, and that’s 3/4 of it.

So to be clear we presume he is talking about the inshore fishery.

Could the recreational fishers help deplete the inshore fishery as it currently stands, absolutely yes.

That is because we fish in the same water space as the export fishery bulk harvesters. They are the people who harvest a free product from the ocean and send it to a country that has no fish left, because of high population or poor fish management.

If the commercial fishers continue down this path of passing the blame they just may be believed. That is

the scary bit because the world is watching this fight and the bookies have it 33-all at the moment.

But remember that the conservationists have a 33% share in this fight and they are in the process of drafting a new reserves bill. So a warning to recreational and commercial fishers, while you fight it out in the public arena as you both seek to discredit each other for a potential fishery decline, the conservationist may just determine that both groups are to blame for the decimation and put a reserve where you wanted to fish and give you both the big green finger.

GOVERNMENT LACK OF ACTION ON FISHERIES MANAGEMENT APPALLING Richard Prosser NZ First, is defending and arguing the cause in Parliament on behalf of Recreational fishers.

The government is choosing to sit on its hands rather than carry out a Commission of Inquiry into fisheries management, says New Zealand First.

“The government’s lack of action on the issues with fisheries man-

agement is appalling,” says Fisheries Spokesperson Richard Prosser.

“The Quota Management System is not working which is why we have clear policy solutions and called for a Commission of Inquiry back in June.

“It’s time to sort it – both our recreational and commercial fishers need certainty,” says Mr Prosser.

New Zealand First’s Fisheries Policy is extremely good and follows what is required to ensure that the future of kiwi kids fishing is sustainable and managed properly.

Check out Mr Prosser’s presentation here http://www.inthehouse.co.nz/video/45520

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13

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT A FIVE SNAPPER BAG LIMIT OR LESS

By Graham Carter

John Key told the commercial at the Seafood Conference that ‘we are not going to get rich selling fish to ourselves.’ Keys comment means, this is an absolute punch in the face to local trade. This brainless quest for the export dollar will leave NZ’ers eating more imported freshwater or imported frozen fish for our fish and chips.

Dr Randall Bess’ biased and lopsided opinion which gained main stream media attention recently was poorly researched and missing some vital information.

It seems very clear that his report was orchestrated by big business and captured officials from MPI, (my sense is that industry is behind it) his previous employer and fully deserves attention from the shredder.

The people funding Bess are believed to be the NZ Initiative. These guys are the big business heavy weights that dictate to government want they want and when they want it. These guys want the recreational fishing catch for their commercial mates, end of story.

There are serious concerns about the future of recreational fishing as it currently is.

Big business interests and captured officials have been debating since 1991 how they can restrict recreational fishing.

They are desperate to cut down rec fishers catch so they can have more for export. They are doing this for one reason and for one reason only. They want to take away our birthright and send it overseas.

What they are planning is to put a ITQ

in place so that the recreational fishers have a quota. This will never work as the population grows, less fish will become available and this will be the recommendations behind having a fishing licence along with reduced daily bag limits and increased fish size.

They will offer increased quota for rec fishers which means diddily squat as you will still only be allowed 3 or 5 snapper.

Meanwhile commercial will have their quota increased which they can catch and it’s all for export. It’s robbing from the rec fisher and giving to commercial.

This is the point that recreational fishers need to understand very clearly – big business has the recreational catch in its sights and they will do everything they can to take this from us. We can’t fight this group but we need to make it unviable for any politician to do this. This is the crunch for recreational fishing. If we win this battle we can win back our fishery.

It would appear that Bess has had little if any contact with recreational fishing groups as the commercial fishing industry is pushing hard to have recreational fishers report catch and have fishing licences. Dr Bess one-sided opinion certainly appears to be siding with this view even though he has not specifically stated this. Recreational fishers will not accept licences, monitoring,

reduced bag limits and increased fish size whilst our inshore fishery continues to be exploited by commercial.

His What’s the Catch? The state of recreational fisheries management in New Zealand’, clearly shows the damage that can be caused by someone that knows little about the recreational fishing industry.

His document should be reworded “What’s the Catch” the corruption and collusion between the MPI and Commercial Fishing Industry.

Once a commercial fisher himself it is unlikely anyone with knowledge of the issues and problems around commercial overfishing and the continued discard and dumping of unwanted fish will take this chap seriously.

One of the main issues that he has overlooked is the commercial fishing boats continually hammering the inshore fishery, even in areas that MPI have identified as being overfished.

If Dr Bess is ever going to be taken seriously then he should present an unbiased, accurate and more constructive report.

An immediate solution would be to completely BAN all commercial fishing for export within 12 nautical miles of our beaches. It seems that Dr Bess has overlooked this obvious solution.

No fish stocks around New Zealand have been depleted by recreational fishing, as it is the greed of commercial fishing industry that clearly have been identified as the culprit. All Dr Bess is doing is creating more hostility between commercial and recreational when attempts are underway the bridge the gap and renew ‘brand awareness’.

As the recreational fishing numbers grow it is commonsense to get rid of the bulk harvesters.

Any CEO of the major fishing companies will see completely through this report and bin it as quick as possible and continue with discussions to benefit both the com-

mercial and recreational groups.

Our inshore fishery must be protected at all costs from people like Dr Bess who appear to have no common sense and seem hell bent on damaging the commercial image.

I’m sure NZ First would have him deported. I can’t recall reading such a load of dribble over my journalistic career.

The reason that kiwis see fishing as their birthright is because it is. Almost every kiwi likes to go fishing, some are good at it, some treat it as a means of relaxing, while others like to get out on the briny and have a good time with their mates.

If they catch a fish that’s great as well.

For some clown to come in and try to persuade the idiots in the MPI to take this away, while recommending reduced bag limits and increased fish size shows the contempt in which he holds our genuine recreational fishers.

With over 600,000 fishers in the top of the North Island, Dr Bess is likely to be ‘tarred and feathered’ if he pursues this ridiculous proposal.

Recreational Fishing brings more into our economy than the floundering commercial industry as depicted in the Westpac Bank report, and we question if he has read this, which would enlighten him to the true issues around the industry, as the report recommends that everyone stays well clear.

When you put Dr Bess’ report alongside the MPI Operational reports which clearly show the level of collusion and corruption in the governing body then all it deserves is a lighted match.

The reason we are seeing more stringent limits and restrictions in places like the Marlborough Sounds is simply because of the bad attitude and practices by the commercial industry that flogged the area to death then come out bleating. This area needs protection for sure by ridding the area of commercial.

Again the sole reason that recreational limits have been reduced in the Snapper One area is because of

commercial greed and overfishing.

As demand for recreational fishing increases, it is even more reason to completely ban commercial fishing for export and if recreational fishing increases even more then exporting of fish must be completely banned. We don’t need them; we don’t want them so they MUST GO. Reports show that successive governments have been unsuccessful in changing the way commercial and recreational fisheries have been managed, because they have never considered the fish. They have only been interested in the brown envelopes received prior to elections.

The current minister is renowned for manipulating catch increases in favour of commercial and most recreational fishers just laugh as they don’t understand this level of corruption.

The time is fast approaching when the recreational sector is likely to rise up like a big ugly grizzly bear and bring the MPI down on its knees in one crushing blow.

Any decisions made by the corrupt National Party and MPI will be overturned by NZ First in the next elections as recreational fishers have had a complete gut full of the deceit in the commercial industry.

The quickest way for fishing companies and the government to ‘double the export value’ of the fish is to take away the recreational catch.

14

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1080 poisoning suspected What does a New Zealander, or indeed a tourist do when they suspect 1080 poisoning has occurred?

Harden up? Hope for the best? Believe that “she’ll be right?” Or perhaps go to the GP who, in the case of the two sisters caught in 1080 dust during their picnic, didn’t really know.

There is no process, guidance or help and many people don’t trust the system which appears to be in place to protect the aerial-1080 programme and not us.

A recent private drop carried out in Hawkes Bay’s Panpac Forestry has resulted in a mother and her three children becoming ill from, once again, 1080 dust.

Immediate symptoms were that it was hard to breath, dizziness, and later the next day chest pains and heart palpitations. Another reaction has been a very puffy face, yet the pharmacy said it was not hay fever. They thought it was something very serious. It is a sad indictment that victims of 1080 poison feel unable to approach the authorities as they have seen

attended cause they haven’t a clue how to treat anyone and they were shocked 1080’s been dumped they were supposed to be notified first”. too many before them be brushed Are you all as appalled as I am? This aside, that there is ‘no help’, and is abysmal support and dangerously that it is all swept under the carpet. cavalier to have no medical back up The 1080 issue appears to be one of for a poison that is so widely used. patriotism and one must not criti- Where is the protection from any fall cize. We must stop protesting and out from our government’s poison‘get on board with the programme’ ing policy? It is like being at war. Yet according to Ms Barry in The Press. a silent one. Women and children From an Otago professor were running around up there - not who lectures on toxins in the just the family that has so far come workplace there’s this advice: forward. This globally banned poiFor anyone who knows or sus- son, with the highest international pects they have been exposed rating for being a biohazardous to 1080 poison you must pass a chemical, is being dropped without urine sample as soon as possible sufficient warning over vast areas of into a clean jar and refrigerate it our countryside. And our Minister until you can send it to Landcare for Conservation is without compasResearch, Cawthron Research In- sion, is simply telling us 1080 is like a stitute and/or Gribbles for testing. cup of tea. Safe she says. You can go Yet can we trust the Crown back to a drop zone after 48 hours.

Research laboratories? NO. These people were there 5 days And this from the victim today: after the drop was supposedly over.

“Been to hospital and waited 2 hours The MacIntosh Plateau, which was to be told they couldn’t test me they not supposed to be in the drop didn’t know how to test for it so had zone, is full of dead birds and dead dye put in my eyes in my daughters deer and that information has come eyes looking for scratches to eye but from a variety of different sources. there was none so got sent home so Where is this going to end? if I have got it it’s now been left un-

KEA – in jeopardy The world’s only alpine parrot is in serious jeopardy but it’s not predators - it’s the 1080 poison. Kea have been around those for a long time.

They survived in good numbers during the years of having a bounty on them and getting shot. They have survived invasive species too.

None of these is a new threat for kea. They survived all of these in good numbers, but common-sense tells us they are not surviving the escalating aerial-1080 poisoning operations of their habitats.

And it’s not just kea it’s all of our native bird-life that is being af-

fected. Areas where there has been an abundance of bird calls is now desolate. An eerie silence prevails.

In the long run, no living thing can survive the chemical assault of this super poison.

This globally-banned and restricted lethal substance with the highest international rating as a biohazardous chemical. Its use in New Zealand is unprecedented and kea, by their decline in numbers, are pointing out this fact.

We are all, courtesy of the policymakers, involved in this innovation death spiral, throwing more

money at a situation of our own making in the wake of more death, damage and destruction of our resources, wildlife, and native biota for no other outcome than death.

DoC would like to blame our tourists for feeding kea. They allege that this makes them want to eat things they find on the ground (as if they didn’t already). But what about the tonnes of “pre feed” (aerial dropping of non-toxic bait), is that not training wildlife to eat things they find on the ground?

What ground feeding birds don’t eat what they find on the ground?

Birds forage and are described as indiscriminate feeders. These people are blinded by their love of the poison. DoC and TBFree are feeding the

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birds, and then feeding the birds again with poison-laced pellets.

Still they claim 1080 is best and “it will be a fight to save these ‘awesome’ birds”. They have mentally given up. “Kea are awesome” runs the subtext here, but “1080 is more awesome” and “all we have to fight our war against feral and invasive animals that should not be here”. Let’s ask a scientist to fiddle with the baits some more and make them kea-resistant - innovation death spiral. https://vimeo. com/143787386 (at 7 minutes) Kea are being killed in greater numbers than can be sustained by breeding. And then there is the question mark over the sub lethal side effects of 1080 poison. One

is infertility. Those who are not killed directly by the poison may also suffer from muscular atrophy, particularly of the wing muscle.

The unique target organ of avian species may be the skeletal musculature (Ataria 2000), resulting in an inability of affected birds to fend for themselves, and putting them at the risk of accidental death or starvation. Several kea in the wake of recent drops were reported to have been involved in car accidents.

“Killing in the name of protection – or eradicating in the name of extinctions is not seen as paradoxical but has long been a mainstay of conservation biology, albeit increasingly subject to critique from outside and from within, such as in the compas-

sionate conservation movement”.

In this thoughtful essay, Prof Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, shares insights from a recent Threatened Species Commission Community meeting on the plan to kill 2 million wild cats by 2020. “They will eradicate in the name of extinction, rehearsing a tension at the heart of conservation biology that is as familiar as the regret that accompanies the killing.

Cats, [and other despised animals] are going to bear the brunt of a problem that not only includes us, but also defines us. The problem is far more complicated than designing a better poison, as all that unease, all that regret, all that half-heartedness in the room that day suggested.”

Water quality versus farm values BNZ Waikato and Bay or Plenty farmers and horticulture growers face a range of tough new land restrictions as part of the Healthy Rivers project designed by the Waikato Regional Council and Waikato and Waipa River iwi.

The proposed draft plan will make it difficult for land use to be changed, which has farmers and growers concerned that their land values are likely to be impacted, plus the plan will also ban stock from waterways and require all rural property owners in the catchment area to submit detailed environmental plans to the council.

Mr John Janssen the head of BNZ Agribusiness, ​ said that the bank had “significant concerns” regarding land use changes and warned that farm values could “destabilize” under the plan to improve water qual-

ity on the Waikato and Waipa rivers.

“Putting this moratorium in place before any public consultation process has been conducted could cause uncertainty that could potentially destabilize farm land values at a time when rural communities are already confronting challenges,” Janssen said.

The bank had not had an opportunity to forecast the impact of the plan, he said.

Delaying implementation of the plan would allow the council to consider public submissions and allow rural lenders to determine the impacts of any changes on customers, Janssen said.

“We’ve got a pretty big chunk of lending into that catchment.” Janssen said, “while the bank supported the rivers clean up, it would like to contribute to public consultation.”

The 80-year plan is designed to make the two rivers safe for swimming and food gathering along their entire lengths, as is required by the legally binding Crown-iwi Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato.

Declining water quality in the rivers had been a public concern for a number of years and the council had an obligation to restore and protect the rivers.

The proposed plan changes could make it difficult, but not impossible for landowners to be gain resource consents to undergo land use changes.

About 1 million hectares of land falls into the affected catchment area including 4000 dairy farms, 4000 dry stock and a mixture of horticulture and urban areas.

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Large dirty rivers are made up from many small sparkling streams.

but nothing like its former self. On this I have a theory. A possible cause of fish and fauna decline in many rivers are the sprays widely applied to the land to control grass grub and porina moth – insecticide Dimilin (diflubenzurin) for porina and for grass separated by the gorge. Above the grub, Dew 600. This chemical is the gorge it splits into the northern and organophosphate diazinon, a DDT southern tributaries. There is still a substitute. There are proven poisonsignificant urban burden from Eke- ings of duck in New Zealand, but little tahuna in the south to Dannevirke else is known and as far as I’m aware, in the north and there has been a little or no testing is done for either significant recent increase in agri- of these insecticides. It is one of those cultural activity including dairy. It is things that as a nation, we don’t want obvious to an observer that there has to know about. Spread by air, the been a decline in water quality and river would receive the same dose the fishery in the last 20 years, but it is localized. The upper reaches of the Mangahao and Mangatainoka just below the forest park, look good, Fish populations have never been great in these upper waters due to less food by Graham Carter about. The Mangatainoka descends into a broad valley of farmland where there was, 20 to 30 years ago, a great trout fishery that maintained tourism. The water is still clean, but the margins are now usually fenced and overgrown, access is difficult and there has been a dramatic decline in fish and other fauna. Last year, a friend and a very experienced angler walked the river from by Hamua to Nireaha over a couple of days. Due to the overgrown banks, he was forced to wade, sometimes up to his chest.

He was surprised by the lack of fish, on one day, seeing none at all and as the water appeared reasonably clean, he could offer no logical explanation. He also commented on the lack of ducks, but that could be due to the lack of nesting sites amongst the blackberry and convolvulus that line the fenced off banks!

The eastern tributary of the Manga- Dennis with his fish tainoka, the Makakahi looks good where it meets the main highway at The wet weather going into the Anzac bridge, but north of Eketa- spring has been a bit of a probhuna, the water is discoloured – there lem, with the Coromandel getare several possible causes – picking ting real pasting over recent up silt where meanders bite into papa weeks, and the road up the coast clay cliffs, Eketahuna town discharges was hazardous to say the least. and the areas of intensive dairy south Coromandel Fishing Charters of Eketahuna. River flow is lower now new skipper Mark was busy workthan in the past, which suggests water ing on giving the ‘Joint Venture’ extraction. Despite that, there is still a a birthday so we had the privifishery, but nothing like 15 years ago. lege of going out with Jordan Many years ago, probably the most and Dave. Dave is the stand-in famous of the Manawatu tributaries was the Makuri. Tisdall’s even named their top of the line fly rod after it.

Where 20 or thirty years ago, there were tracks worn in the banks by overseas visitors and their guides as they fished the hallowed water; now the only tracks are made by the odd cattle beast. What made this river great was the limestone country it sprung from; its waters could support a rich insect fauna that supported both native fish and introduced trout.

It is a river in sections, the first, the upper reaches through farmland, for the most part accessible, it then drops into a steep, turbulent and almost inaccessible gorge, the river there can The group from Kumeu be seen from the Pori road bridge.

Below the gorge, the river is more set- skipper helping out as deckie. tled, but in a narrow deeply cut bed. Seven hard-core fishos from Access is difficult and wading condi- Kumeu had turned up and tions down in the bed are treacherous. showed their expertize landAs the river is in two parts separated ing some very nice snapper. by a gorge, so to the water conditions Their skills from fishing the Kaipara vary. In terms of clarity, on the whole showed and they easily adapted to it is good, but above the gorge, there the Hauraki Gulf, the good thing is, like the Mangatainoka by Nireaha, we noticed was that they were uslittle life. Below the gorge it is better, ing good hook sizes and rigs which

as the land as well as any runoff from the land. Not only would the fauna of the river be affected, but so too terrestrial insects like manuka beetle and brown beetle which are a significant part of a rivers food resources.

My theory is, that if the cause of decline is diflubenzurin and diazinon, the fact that the river is in better condition below the gorge than above could be as a result of dispersal of the more volatile (than water) contaminants in the tumbling waters of the gorge, where the river drops more than 100 metres in a kilometre or so. Until it is tested, we will never really know.

15

The Manawatu below the gorge flows through more intensively farmed land, and it is also in this part that urban discharge becomes the major issue. Observers have reported that although there have not been the big fish die-off as there have been in the past, fish are smaller in size and the numbers are low.

The Manawatu is far from one of the dirtiest of the western world.

By the same token, it is far from the cleanest. Its problems are not simple single issues like dirty dairy but complex reactions to human activities over the whole of its catchment.

Westies go fishing the Coromandel

The sources of the Manawatu in the Ruahine Ranges are also home to small isolated populations of native galaxids (fish).

It’s not dirty dairy – it’s dirty people!

Part Three – the Manawatu

By Bill Benfield It is easy from just a simple travel map to tell where “dirty dairy” is, easier still from Google Earth. Any river with few or any towns and a vast hinterland of dairy farms will be a candidate. All the major Canterbury rivers, such as the Rakaia or the Ashley, fit the bill.

But not all our waterways problems can be laid solely at the door of dirty dairy. Looking at three other river systems where other factors are at play.

We continue a series on the state of some of our worst rivers, the Waikato River, the Manawatu and the Ruamahunga.

The Manawatu is an interesting comparison. Not only is it often cited as one of New Zealand’s dirtiest rivers, research by the Cawthron Institute in Nelson showed it to be one of the dirtiest in the western world. Dr Young of Cawthron claims that a system measuring oxygen changes in water show the Manawatu has a reading of 107, nearly twice that of the next worse, a river near Berlin just below a sewage outfall, where the reading was 59. Dr Young cited leaching farm nutrient and treated town sewerage, with agricultural use, i.e. nitrogen run off, being most of it.

Untreated storm-water is not even mentioned. It is all the rubbish from the roads and gutters, fuel spills, dead animals, garden rubbish in the drains, sometimes even raw sewerage from old combined connections.

There will also be leachates from landfill rubbish sites - it’s everything.

In all, from the towns, Eketahuna, Pahiatua, Woodville, Dannevirke, Ashurst, Fielding, Shannon, Palmerston North and so on have a combined sewerage discharge consent of 75,600 cubic metres per day. To that, we can add industrial discharges from milk processor Fonterra, New Zealand Pharmaceuticals and Tui Breweries.

By claiming “sediment washing into the river from overgrazed farms or eroding countryside”, the authors ignore some of the bigger generators of silt. Forestry is certainly a major contributor, both in clearing the land for planting and at time

of harvest. Another is cross blading and bulldozer work in the river bed. I’m not actually championing dairy farmers, but I think it is reasonable to say that there is a lot more involved in the Manawatu than agricultural runoff - aka “dirty dairy”.

Three years later in 2012, The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE) issued “The Water Quality in New Zealand Report”. This overturned the previous Cawthron findings, that the river was the most polluted of the Western World. The Manawatu Standard of 21/3/12 reported that the PCE found earlier report to be wrong.

Dr Young of the Cawthron Institute said his earlier findings were taken out of context, he added only a tiny fraction of the world’s rivers had been tested using the method employed in a two year study that gave one unusually high result.

This report was welcomed by “stakeholders” (farmers?) who felt it was time to stop pointing the finger at them. Dr Young’s earlier assertion that it was “agricultural runoff, mainly nitrogen was the most of it” could no longer be relied upon as the culprit.

The Councils former regulatory manager was quoted as claiming there was no one single cause, but a combination of all users.

Unlike the first report, this report attributed the murky colour of the Manawatu and the high levels of phosphorous to the large amounts of sediment, which in turn came from eroding hill country further up the catchment. To an extent, that can be verified by Google earth, but it still ignores other issues such as land cleared for forestry, forestry itself and councils own bulldozer contractors in the river bed. Horizons Council chief executive Michael McCartney claims the councils “sustainable” land use programme has been in operation for several years. He claims we will start seeing a marked improvement thanks to hill country retirement and planting as reducing sediment which was one of the Manawatu River Accords action points. On checking the web site of the accord, (http://www.manawaturiver.co.nz/ whats-happening/whats-happening) I find just about everything else that is being addressed including a formal launch on 11/3/16. It must be there somewhere? Words are cheap.

The Manawatu is a river in two parts

resembled our special Hauraki Gulf ledger rigs which catch the larger snapper and they handled the smaller fish appropriately returning them to water with care.

The other point we noticed was that they were putting their catch into flaked salt ice with half a bucket of sea water thrown in to make a brine.

Dennis from Kumeu landed the heaviest snapper a good ten-pounder for the day closely followed by Nikora Heke from Hamilton with a nine pounder.

Word of mouth always works best and these boys come regularly to Coromandel to enjoy the spring fishing, and we were told that Coromandel Fishing Charters offered the best value for money and was the most popular fishing charter operating out of Coromandel.

“A snapper fishing trip on Coromandel Fishing Charters is your best choice for hassle-free safe and comfortable fishing adventures.”

“Finally I have found a charter boat with a clean toilet!”

“It’s nice to see a clean charter boat” Who were we to argue.

Fishing at any level is a load of fun and that’s what we were on board for. We only wanted a good feed, so the focus was on fun rather than the option of filling the bin.

Although in saying that we were on the spot in the mussel farms for two hours and everyone had their daily limit.

Both the Joint Venture charter boats, ‘Homdre’ and ‘Rubin Jack’ are 15 metre Precision Westcoaster’ hulls and have 650hp Detroit diesel motors..

They have similar facilities, like

a clean modern sit down toilet, covered fishing area, along with a BBQ for breakfasts, lunches or dinner meals, hot water for coffee or tea facilities with plenty of room for fishing rods, ice bins etc.

Both also have sleeping facilities for up to eight people with three double beds, for overnight fishing excursions.

Jordan and crew will help with showing you what to do to catch a fish and generally work the deck area helping where they can, taking fish off hooks and teaching people how to handle fish and how to return them to the water safely.

Catching snapper on charter boats is relatively easy with anglers mostly using dropper rigs or stray lining.

Shellfish are the obvious bait choice, or packaged frozen bait, such as trevally, squid, or pilchards work well.

These baits are available through the local Salty Towers Bait Shop who also provide tackle, salt ice and the popular berley bombs which are made with various mixes of mussels mixed with fish oils and kina.

Hook size, hook type, line strength, sinker weight, are paramount when fishing on a charter boat, as many tangles occur when a fisher uses lighter sinkers than his neighbours and the currents twist the lines together on the bottom, lighter sinkers also allow fish to swim around more also causing tangles.

Another great days fishing.

Coromandel Fishing Charters specialize in ‘four hour’ charters through the summer months as they have found that after that the fishers want to go home and sort out the fish already caught. This involves an early morning excursion, one around lunchtime and an evening fish.

Coromandel Fishing Charters work in unison with Salty Towers Bait and Tackle shop who offer a fish filleting service along with bait, berley and tackle supplies and they have fresh mussels available to take home as well.

Coromandel Fishing Charters offer more than a fishing experience as there is a lot more to the Hauraki Gulf than people imagine.

To Book your Charter or Christmas function call Tom or Lorraine on 0800 267624 or 027 8668001 or the office at 07 8668928.

Email: corofishing@gmail.com

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Government ‘in Denial’ Over Water and Rivers Crisis Government is “in denial” over the deteriorating state of New Zealand’s water resource and rivers says a national freshwater angling organization.

“During a television interview about Havelock North water supply crisis, Prime Minister John Key said on television, that the country could still claim a ‘100 percent pure’ status,” said Tony Orman, author and media spokesperson for the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers. “That’s denying the real situation that our water standards have withered to approaching that of a third world state. If that isn’t enough, Minister for the Environment Nick Smith, has set a low bar for river quality.”

Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith earlier this week presented a state of the environment speech at Lincoln University where he outlined the Government’s objectives towards freshwater management and said a target of making rivers swimmable, was “impractical”.

question as to why it wasn’t picked up in 1999, or soon after, by the Department of Conservation since the Waiau borders the Fiordland National Park or by Southland Fish and Game since it manages the Waiau trout fishery.”

Soon after the discovery of didymo in 2004 a jet boat marathon “Yet bizarrely Minister Smith at his Lin- replace a democratically elected coun- was permitted to take place which coln address, reportedly outlined one cil with a government puppet council.” leap-frogged several rivers after of the goals for freshwater manage- Government’s disappointing re- the Waiau thus risking immediate ment was improving water quality,” sponses of denying the country’s said Tony Orman. “How the yardstick growing and precarious state of can be lowered to ‘achieve better wa- water quality and flows, should be ter quality’ is sleight of the mouth stuff.” assessed in the light of New ZeaTony Orman said Minister Smith’s land’s relatively small population praise during his address, for the of less than five million people. government’s hand-picked Environ- “As a country we are less than one ment Canterbury council was not Australian city (Sydney) yet we have unexpected. Government removed declining water quality and rivthe democratically elected ECan ers and stream flows severely decouncil in 2010, replacing it with its pleted and increasingly so,” he said. own six commissioners. It then sus- “Anglers are on the rivers and have pended reinstating elections but noted the diminishing freshwanext month (October) will partially ter resource. In essence – trout restore elections by having seven and other freshwater species are elected and six government appoint- the canaries in the coal mines.” Always ready and reliable, the newly ed commissioners. A fully elected An awareness was needed that aquifer refined Ramco 5800 Interceptor is the council has been promised for 2019. flowing beneath the ground and riv- workhorse of the range, offering a “It remains to be seen whether gov- ers flowing visibly above the ground stable robust working platform, able ernment breaks that assurance for are one and the same - “deplete the to cater to a group, yet easily man2019 after promising fully elections aquifer and the river flows decrease.” aged by two people. This lightweight package makes this boat ideally before this,” said Tony Orman. “In anysuited to beach launching and recovcase it was insulting to the public to

nations, the news of lake slime is a strong warning that New Zealand cannot be smug about the purity of water, rivers and lakes. Consequently it was disappointing to see on television in the wake of the Havelock North contamination, the Prime Minister shrugging off the contamination and asserting New Zealand was still 100 percent pure,” he said.

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Lethargy and Lack of Vigilance Evident in Lake Slime The outbreak in Lake Wanaka of “lake snow” a still-water relation to didymo which reportedly had invaded South Island rivers for several years to date, has shown an alarming lack of vigilance and a lethargy by authorities says a national trout fishing advocacy.

The New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers (NZFFA) a nationwide organisation of trout fishing clubs, said the reported incursion into Lake Hawea was far from unexpected since the mucous-like algae had been detected 12 years ago in Lake Wanaka which neighbours Lake Hawea.

Spokesman Ken Sims from Manawatu, said the report of a Hawea outbreak

spread. Despite the jet boat series, anglers were blamed for the spread of didymo and then in a knee jerk reaction, felt sole waders were banned.

Ken Sims said in addition to the inconvenience to trout anglers, the outbreak of algae was damaging to New Zealand’s much vaunted “100% pure” image.

“On top of the Havelock North and Pahiatua drinking water contami-

was disappointing news since the “lake snow” had turned up in Wanaka in 2004, Coleridge in 2012 and Wakatipu in 2016. Commercial fishing guides taking tourists fishing in Lake Wanaka had virtually given up guiding operations because the lake slime accumulated quickly on fishing lines and lures.

“The time lag of several years is of deep concern. It’s very much a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted,” he said.

A spokesman for the Otago Regional Council acknowledged the council had been slow to react, but assured the public that “lake snow” had the council’s attention now. The coun-

cil had recently begun a detailed two-year monitoring programme of the three lakes, (Wakatipu, Wanaka and Hawea) to track the algae’s spread. But NZFFA said the call to action was disappointingly belated.

“What makes it frustrating is that similar slowness occurred back in 2004 when didymo was discovered in Southland’s Waiau River. It has since spread to many South Island rivers,” said Ken Sims.

A Biosecurity NZ spokesperson had told an annual meeting of NZFFA about nine years ago, that didymo was probably present five years previously, i.e. about 1999. “It poses the

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Water and Rivers in Real Crisis water contamination, that New Zealand was still a “100 percent pure”. In 2011 on BBC Hard Talk - the flagship interview slot on BBC World television - the Prime Minister took a grilling about New Zealand’s advertising slogan of “100% Pure New Zealand”.

The interviewer took the Prime Minister to task about the “polluted state” of rivers saying it The Selwyn River near the Selwyn Huts used to be a popular swimming hole, but is now polluted contradicted the pure branding.

“One would assume the PM and unsafe. learned a lesson on BBC Hard Despite Government denials New Zea- Talk. Consequently his statement land has a crisis with its water resource last week relative to the Havesays the Council of Outdoor Recrea- lock North water contamination tion Associations (CORANZ). However was startling,” said Bill Benfield. government appeared complacent In addition to the Prime Minister’s about the deteriorating state of riv- statement, a few days later, Minister ers and contamination of aquifers. for the Environment Dr Nick Smith CORANZ co-chairman Bill Benfield in an environment speech at Lincoln said recent government comments University said a target of making all showed there appeared a lack of rivers swimmable, was “impractical”. will to address the serious situation. CORANZ considered rivers must “at the Bill Benfield said Prime Minister John least be swimmable, and preferably Key recently claimed on television, better than that with a healthy ecolocommenting on Havelock North’s gy based on aquatic invertebrate life.”

CORANZ said both responses indicated a dangerously complacent attitude.

“Uncontaminated water is vital to the health of people,” said Bill Benfield. “It is vital to the ecology and environment and for the public to enjoy for recreation. Politicians cannot afford to be cavalier about its well-being.”

In a few short decades, rivers had gone from a clean, drinkable state to sixty-one percent now classified as unfit for swimming. Large scale dairying expansion for corporates in low rainfall areas was putting stress on aquifers, deleting river flow and with less water flowing, raising contamination levels. However in the Havelock North contamination case, two rural towns in Waipawa and Waipukurau had for decades, been pouring sewage into the Waipawa and Tukituki Rivers.

Rivers and aquifers were of the same resource and depleting underground water resulted in lowered river levels.

“It’s the duty of all New Zealanders town and country - and government - to tackle the aquifer water and river contamination with the utmost vigour and action,” said Bill Benfield.

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young ones who have fleeced me of money by knowing the birds on the back of our bank notes and the number wanting to help clear trap lines with me and I tell you what, the young ones are better eduday technology would be like in cated and more passionate than 2016? That would be interesting! the older generations are they are I’ve been telling people for the on the move like a Tsunami wave! last few years look out, the young There has been a big growth in ones in our country are coming. predator trapping programmes For example, I gave a talk to a year around NZ over the last few years 5 class at a primary school in Taupo and in the Taupo area there are 14 earlier this year and as usual put groups that I know of and I’ll bet some $$$ on the table which they you none of them started because could have if they could answer a of the Government. All these proquestion. My question was “there grammes as far as I’m aware started are 3 birds that make up the wat- because people said “that’s enough”. tle family, can you name them?” So while the Govt has a role to play and a 9 year old girl put her hand I’ll be clearing traps long after this up and said “the Kokako, the Sad- Govt has gone! The real driving dleback and the Huia but the Huia force will come from the people and is now extinct”. Holy Moly I thought! in the last few weeks I have had 2 Add into that mix the number of people want traps from me to start

DIDYMO DAVE’S REPORT Predator Free New Zealand This Predator Free New Zealand idea has stirred things up hasn’t it?

Comments, newspaper articles, social media postings, conversations etc. and as seems to so often be the case I’m on the other side of popular opinion which has made life very interesting. For instance, I’ve lost count of how many people have told me it can’t be done and my answer has been “how do you know that?” and the discussion goes from there with me arguing like an apologist until we get to the bottom line which is it can’t be done in their opinion.

Fair enough. But how do we know

whether something can or can’t be done if we have never tried it?

So have a think about these points: What does predator free actually mean to you because I’m finding most people have a different opinion on that? For instance is it the eradication of say rats, or the suppression of them to the point that they no longer have an impact on our birdlife?

Most people find it difficult to accept the change that can happen. To understand this, instead of looking forward 34 years to the projected 2050 date, go back 34 years to 1982 and imagine trying to tell people about skype, facebook and what modern

trapping and one couple that wants to take responsibility for a small trap line so we are wining already!

What’s happening in the universities and the science world? i haven’t found one critic of this goal who can answer that question. Recently a university student contacted me to see if I had female Weasel’s in my collection of frozen dead animals because she needed more to complete her Master’s Degree.

Sadly I only had males, but I’m trying to source dead Mustelid’s from all over the place so we can get them to the universities to help and support students and I tell you this, none of us know what some bright spark in a science lab might discover in the next 34 years in NZ or some other part of the world that we could tap into?

People seem very concerned that this goal will lead to mass 1080

17

drops. Personally I can’t see that as the answer because there are huge areas of NZ that are urban or farmland and 1080 can’t be spread there. It’s a bit like in January 2008 when I returned from the South Island having seen Didymo and decided it wasn’t coming to the North Island. The few of us who believed we could stop it being.

Ed: Our opinion on why NZ will never be predator free is because when you drive around our urban and rural roads, you can regularly see weasels, stoats and rats running across the roadways. If Predator Free NZ was ever going to work why are these areas not being poisoned? Because they can’t, so the whole programme has to be a hoax, and it’s the wild deer and pigs that are being targeted. While the status quo remains NZ will never be predator free – it’s impossible.

Fishing fleet overhaul boosts failing industry Zealand, formerly Aotearoa Fisheries, is a treaty settlement business with 58 shareholders.

Carrington said that Moana is effectively financing the building of the new vessels and the fishThe new offal discharge system located under the boat, a great ing companies took on debt to discharge point for unwanted fish. buy it once it was Moana New Zealand recently an- completed as most of the fishing comnounced a $30 million fleet renewal panies Aotearoa Fisheries contracts programme. Moana is to help those are small, family-owned businesses. companies buy the new “technologi- Australian company OceanTech cally advanced” boats with transitional designed the 24m inshore trawler funding, long-term access to quota specially for New Zealand conand secure financing, its chief execu- ditions. It was built by Nelsontive Carl Carrington said. Moana New based Aimex Service Group.

AFL does not own a fleet but contracts fishing companies to catch its quota.

The Santy Maria will be based in its home port in Tauranga, and operated by Tauranga fishing company RMD, run by the Rawlinson family.

The boat’s special features included modern fuel efficiency systems and world-leading trawling gear specially designed to minimize environmental impacts.

It also featured advanced seabird protection measures, including that offal on board would be released when it was not trawling, and discharged below the water rather than above it. The concern with this is that it could allow bi-catch or unwanted fish to be discarded as well and there is no camera monitoring system to ensure this doesn’t occur, especially since Newshub released camera footage showing commercial fishers

blatantly flouting the law, and this new device only adds more concern.

The most significant thing about this boat is that it is geared up for precision seafood harvesting, and this wonder net works best in 20 metres of water. So if you are out there this summer in your fiz boat or kayak be prepared to give way to this monster as they will be displaying their maritime signs that require it.

Moana New Zealand chief executive Carl Carrington said the vessel marked the beginning of the biggest fleet renewal of its kind in New Zealand since the early 1970s.

“The average inshore fishing vessel is over 40 years old, and these new 24-metre, six crew vessels will be more fuel efficient, require less maintenance and are less susceptible to changeable weather conditions,” he said.

From left to right Headmen Don McClunie, Brian Neilson and ranger in charge of the hunter training party Charlie Whiting at Waiawa hut in Te Urewera in 1967.

The second photo is Charlie Whiting standing in the woodpile after a day chopping wood.

a fish handling glove, simply grab the fish by the tail, flick the fly out and release it or not.

From the Creel Tackle House, Turangi BANNER Waxing on again about the attitudes of some anglers, the most recent declaring this was the worst fishing year ever on the Tongariro, we showed him some recent catch photographs then gave him several flies, bingo they worked, returning next day bought a dozen – point is change flies often, move around, do not spend to much time in one area if you’re not catching.

Some anglers think their old favourite pool is going to or should fish the same as it once did, wrong, you need to apply some new thinking, or technique perhaps?

Sunray Fly Lines micro and low diameter fly lines are here, see Sunray fly lines.

Add a new dimension to your fly fishing with these ultra-thin light lines, have sold my heavy Rods, as in 7, 8 weights only us-

ing 5 and 6 weights on the Tongariro as a preference.

The diameter of these lines reduces drag when lifting the line off the water, they mend so much easier and cast beautifully.

Recently introduced to New Zealand Fly Rods, the perfect intro combo at $300 with a lifetime guarantee, Rod, Reel, Line, we hold spare tip sections.

Now then, the fishing has been very good on the Tongariro, of course a few slabs about now, but still fish heading for the upper river, we think for some time, as we know, there are trout all year round in the Tongariro we look forward to the seasons and changes in techniques required to bag a few or not, whatever.

More importantly it is just wonderful being on the river, fish or not or would you rather be working !.

Have you noticed how many blue duck are now living along the Tongariro, is amazing how the young ones can walk on very fast water, Tui’s will be flocking to the Kowhai when they flower

as will the Bellbirds, look out along the River trail south of the Hydro Pool for Parakeets, there is a Ruru (owl) which lives in the dark bush as you head north after crossing the Red Hut bridge, blue heron frequent visitors, of course grey and mallard ducks, Kereru (native pigeon) abound and feasting on new season shoots, Hares most frequently on the trail about mid-way south of the Cicada pool and above the lower Birches area, pheasant often seen down the Admirals Pool Road, Paradise ducks nesting in the cliff above the Cliff Pool, NZ Falcon can be seen around the Major Jones to Judges pool a nesting pair live near the Creel, water cress is only found in a couple of places on the river so that is a secret sorry as are the wild Raspberries, of course Blackberry is everywhere. Wild pig sometimes sneak off Pihanga and other places to forage, a very large boar shot a while back at Kowhai flat.

As I put this together over a few days, today being Saturday 24th Sept, I can tell you the fishing the past few days has been outstanding as well, beautiful conditioned Rainbows, are these the late runners ?

Waders, god I hate waders there are two sorts “those that leak and those that do not leak yet.”

We now only stock Neoprene and Hodgman gumboot foot as they are reliable. (Perhaps one other which I am trialing at present) we like to use before we sell first.

Finding a net a hassle, flies getting caught up in the mesh, try

Or if you do like a net, we have fitted a number with Deer Antler handles an additional $25.

Creatures of habit - ever noticed how many anglers use 9ft Rods, when a 9ft 6in or 10ft are so much easier to use, better line control, more distance, though not really necessary.

How easy is the fishing on the Tongariro currently – watched a couple of guys boldly wade into a wellknown pool right up to their chests, about where I would put my fly, 9ft rods ultra large indicator, very heavy nymphs, indicated by the effort required to get the nymph out a moderate distance – holy crap I needed a lie down, granted they did catch fish, in my opinion because the water was holding a lot of fish, none the less they were out there doing it and having fun.

Ever wondered how some Rod companies can produce so many new models a year, so have I, is simply clever marketing, if your still paying over $700 for a fly rod then you have not looked at or tried some of the new rods on the market designed by some of the world’s best angler sick of the hype.

Most rods these days have some sort of replacement warranty, the new Echo (entry level even have a lifetime guarantee) sellers of theses rods have spare tips in stock so is no waiting time should you break one.

With Christmas just around the corner you might like to buy a large aerial photograph on acrylic of yours or someone else’s favourite Tongariro Pool or stretch of the River. Typically 1m * 600, 1m *350.

Deercullers Reunion 9-12 March 2017

at the Thames Valley Deerstalkers premises, Paeroa.

This reunion is only open to NZ Deercullers Assn Members.

The group who are spearheading this reunion are: Andy Leigh, Brian Neilson, Fred Dickson, Jock Spinks and Shaun Neustroski.

If anyone is able to assist or help out with anything at all during this time, or being prepared to put their hand up for other jobs as they come along.

Tightlines

Please email - ring Jock Spinks on 07 862 4883 or Brian Neilson 027 8910958 or brianneilson@xtra.co.nz

FISHING CHARTERS AND CLASSIFIEDS Bait & Tackle

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Boat Servicing

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EMPTY ALUMINIUM CANS WANTED

Help Didymo Dave clean up the Waitahanui and Hinemaia Rivers Call 021 02600437 for drop off points North Island wide

cambridge@sportsworld.co.nz

Hunting

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visit us on facebook Members of the Thames Valley Deerstalkers had a neat weekend at Dickeys Flat for their HUNTS Course ‘tramping and navigation’ day recently where they went up and around the Dalys Hut loop and then did off track navigation work on the way back (and unscrambling their way through the supple jack, etc...).

They camped at Dickey’s for the night, and spent the morning doing river crossings and pack floating and then we spent the afternoon relaxing with Elliott and the family.

Part of this navigation exercise was taking Elliott and his family down the track from Dickeys through the water race tunnel and then everyone had such a nice relaxing social time by the river, back at the camper later in the day.

Commercial Cray Fishers - Friend or Foe MPI have been punished in the media for their poor management decisions. Let’s be fair everybody can make mistakes. What you have to remember is that is those mistakes keep happening then they are either incompetence or deliberate strategy.

Let’s apply this thinking to the commercial Crayfish industry of NZ. MPI stands for Ministry of Primary Industry’s and they most certainly view the Cray industry as a pri-

mary export industry of NZ. The proof of that is clear when you look at the difference in quota allocation between the groups. CRA5 has 350t on to commercial and only 40 ton each to recreational and customary fishers. Just over eight times the allocation given to the export fishers so that somebody in China can eat it simply because they can afford to.

MPI love the Cray industry because they have failed to incentivize NZ’S

to manufacture and export anything and you don’t have to manufacture Crayfish, all you have to do is pick it up, pack it up and put it on a plane.

This is very good business for the commercial crayfisher to have a free product that reproduces itself every year, So long as you don’t overfish it. Oh the fisher can moan about the cost of picking up their free product ,but for the most part, he who has the most flash toys

wins and the crays will pay for it.

MPI and the commercial fishers are very protective of their export business they have a real hate thing going on with anybody that could take one of their export crayfish, and they have the full support of the court.

In 2014 MPI had a big sting and caught some nasty people who were supplying restaurants, old people, tourists, families and neighbours with large amounts of Crayfish for around $10 each. I, the commercial industry is the only people who are legally able to supply

these Kiwis there Cray, crazy but they were so busy being heroes to the export industry and going on TV they must have forgotten.

The judge was not impressed and told the two that they had cheated the tax payer, their neighbours and the crayfishes with quota.

One haul of cray was 740 in number and the poacher got $8500 over a timespan. The judge said cray was worth $35000 to the commercial industry.

I know who I want to put in jail for daylight robbery of our wild re-

sources and it’s not the poachers.

For heaven’s sake take 50 ton off commercial crayfishers and give it to these guys to supply locale trade.

The retailers and consumers are so angry that they only have sick cray to eat or imported from Canada that when the new reserves act comes in I am confident the commercial fishers will lose water space to recreational only reserves. Honestly they have been so greedy and judging us recreational people when we have 40t and they have 350t they deserve all they get.

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Early Bird Bait & Tackle Report

Ethans Fish (first ever), weight 5lb. First words to Mum .. ‘Mum I caught the biggest fish’ caught in the middle of the Mussel Farms

Early Bird Bait & Tackle Report I started my last report with a little talk about the fantastic weather we had been having! “What Happened” ………….. Rain, rain and more rain.

We’ve had storms, landslides and flooding so come on BIG MAN, give us a break and let us ‘fishos’ get out there. There have been lulls in the weather and those that have been out have been rewarded with plenty of good fish including one huge snapper last week of 25lb. This was caught just outside of the mussel farms and was amongst many others over 12lb. The fish are big at the moment and all my locals who know the season like the back of their hand have told me it is here to stay.

There is literally so much food for them in the Firth that they haven’t moved away.

The kahawai around the farms are full of

anchovies and large whitebait and the ones in the shallows are full of shrimp and prawns so with a smorgasbord like that ‘Why move away’.

For the guys who are patient enough to put down a berley and anchor up, it has really paid off but for a few others; and it is only a few, they are not catching much at all. Too many fish are being lost because of hook sizes, types of rigs and in general quality of line and tackle. With the amount of quality fish out there, whether it be in the Firth or around the top of the Coromandel Peninsular, if you haven’t got the gear stay at home and learn to knit. Quality gear does not necessarily mean Black Magic, Shimano, Gamagatsu and all of the other brands you see plastered around the boats on the fishing programs.

I totally agree that advertising sells and more and more revenue is gained from this form of advertising. You will always get the program hosts going on about certain brands and equipment but there wouldn’t be a pro- gram if the sponsors didn’t come up with the goods.

This really annoys me to the extent that I have had or am having various pieces of tackle and equipment tested locally by people like you and me with surprising results. Some of your high end reels do not have sealed bearings and carbon washers, whereas some of the Fladen range of tackle can and does exceed expectations and

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for much less dollars. I have mentioned this range before and have had plenty of feedback from both boat and shore fisherman about the quality of reels and tackle. One of these products is called ‘TechniPerline’. It is High Abrasion and is specifically designed to help an angler land more fish in tough conditions. There is nothing worse than hooking up into the big one and five minutes into the battle your line parts. All you can do is cuss #@$%# and wish you had better line.

We now have the perfect product for you right here in New Zealand. The Tecni-Perline high abrasion took 3 years to develop and was specifically tested on the harsh rocky shores of South Africa by the Protea Rock & Surf Angling team. This product not only resists being cut on rocks and kelp but is supple, has low memory and excellent knot strength!

Whether you are fishing on a boat or from the shore, why not give yourself the best fighting chance of landing that big one. This product really sticks out head and shoulders above any of the opposition.

You can view the actual “high abrasion line test” on You Tube to see that the product outlasts untreated lines by at least 4 times longer. (See some of the photos with this report). Apart from their huge tackle

range, Fladen are producers of all types of rods and reels, some of which are stocked by me. They cover all aspects of fishing and are made using the most modern materials available and without the hefty price tag of the bigger brands.

Come and call in and we’ll discuss what you need and you can tell me about the one that got away because you had inferior tackle.

All in all guys, the fishing couldn’t be better with the charter boats and barges doing very well. There are plenty of workups and spotted the other day where a few Orca playing around near the shore. Dolphins are still around the Mussel farms and normally if they are around there will be fish. By the time you read this report, Christmas will be just eleven weeks away. If you want anything put back on lay -by, come and see

19

me as soon as possible. December is the time for you late shoppers but a bit of pre-planning doesn’t go amiss and buying a rod and reel for the missus or vice versa will always bring the best out them.

Until next time, Tight Lines.

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now $299

from $269

Abu Garcia Veritas 14'6" Surf Rod was $299

Okuma Classic Boat Combo only $99

now $249

Cressi Sioux Spear Gun only $169

Hutchwilco 150n Manual Inflatable Life Jacket only $99 ea

Kilwell Limited Edition 10-15 kg Strayline rod

Fin Nor Lethal Spin Jig combo

only $369

only $299

Cressi Gorilla Dive Bag

Cressi Sky Mask and Snorkel set was $99

was $139 now $99

now $59

Green River Knives

150m spools of 10lb braid only $9.90 ea

30% off

Ramco Boats now available in the Waikato Extras available on request:

? Rod Holders ? Bimini ? Boarding ladder ? Road cover ? Front and rear seat squabs ? All electronics- sounders etc ? Ramco 5 year structural warranty ? Rear Seat (moveable) ? Ramco Alloy Trailers available ? Alloy Ski pole Finance available to approved ? Bait board bracket with bait board purchasers ? Engine of your choice ? supply & fitted ? Alloy folding rocket launcher

New Boat Sales and Service SPECIAL DEAL Aug/Sept only

NEW BOATS READY FOR INSPECTION

SPECIAL FOR the months of Aug/Sept only, a Ramco 5050 cuddy, with voyager trailer, Yamaha 60hp 4-stroke Reg/WOF, all ready to go starter package. Normal retail $37983.00 - Special starter package price $35995.00

2016 Ramco 5450 Prelude and Voyager trailer basic package only (does not include motor or extras).

Priced from $25,246.50

2016 Ramco 5800 Interceptor and voyager trailer - basic package only (does not include motor or extras) Priced from $34,522.28

07 849 4936 027 473 4075 Phil Birss Marine, 26 Euclid Ave, Te Rapa, Hamilton

Open Sat 9 am- 2pm

Phil.birss@xtra.co.nz www.philbirssmarine.co.nz