Angling couple reel in top sustainability awards

from Hibiscus Matters_Issue 350_26 June 2023

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A lifetime of promoting and raising awareness of the sustainability of New Zealand’s oceans and fisheries has snagged Hibiscus Coast couple Scott and Sue Tindale two top Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) awards.

At a 2023 Seafood Sustainability Awards ceremony in Parliament on June 6, the Tindales won both the Ocean Guardian Award and the overall Supreme Sustainability Award for their dedication to environmental education, conservation and research. A panel of independent judges selected the winners.

The pair are the founding directors of the Tindale Marine Research Charitable Trust. They are also both internationally renowned anglers, together accounting for hundreds of International Game Fish Association world records.

The Ocean Guardian Award, presented by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), recognised the Tindales for having “spent a lifetime encouraging the public to take notice of their impact on the ocean environment.”

The Supreme Sustainability Award honoured them “for their ongoing contribution to educating the public and raising awareness about the sustainability of our oceans and fisheries.”

Announcing the winners, Fisheries New Zealand deputy director-general Dan Bolger said the Tindales were not only internationally renowned anglers themselves but had also “worked tirelessly to increase public participation and interest in the health of our oceans.”

They developed a programme that has tagged thousands of fish and provides valuable information used for monitoring stocks.

Sue says the couple were humbled to realise “how much respect everyone out there has for both us and the work we do in our charitable trust.”

“We were both very surprised at winning the Ocean Guardian Award, and then when [Bolger] started to read out his speech to announce the Supreme Sustainability Award winners we both had our mouths open in shock.”

“We were totally caught off guard when we realised that he was talking about us, and that we were about to receive the top award of the night,” she says.

“Scott was speechless for the first time ever. We acknowledge all of the efforts by our supporters and members who jointly share in these awards.”

The Tindale Marine Research Charitable Trust helps to provide crucial information about New Zealand fish species to scientists here and abroad. It has also helped the Department of Conservation to locate and satellite tag endangered Great White sharks in the Kaipara Harbour.

The couple were also finalists in two categories at the inaugural Seafood Sustainability Awards, in 2020.