Hooked up 13

HOOKED ISSUE 13 2017

up

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New Zealand Sport Fishing Council is one of the longest serving incorporated organisations representing recreational anglers.

The NZSFC was formed around the IGFA fishing rules and ethics so that a consistent standard could be set when comparing catches. The NZSFC offers additional records classes for New Zealand records beyond what IGFA offer for juniors and small-fry anglers. We have refined some of the IGFA rules to make them more suitable for our contests.

Our New Zealand based IGFA representatives keep a close liaison between IGFA and (NZSFC) and have regular input into issues that could affect New Zealand anglers. We have promoted valuable marine research that is internationally respected. This includes the game fish tagging programs for marlin, sharks, tuna and kingfish which now has a history of 17 years of information.

The Council created and continues to support the NZ Marine Research Foundation (NZMRF) for the primary purpose of conducting research on fish species benefiting our membership that could not, or will not be financed by government agencies.

Information from research carried out by the NZMRF has been very valuable when justifying our position in species management. All they have to do is remind themselves, that the majority of what the NZSFC does is for the benefit of individual members rather than equal benefits for each club.

More fish in the sea, better access, water quality, individual legal protection, record recognition, research, advocacy, fishing data collection and dissemination are all individual benefits of belonging to the NZSFC.

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CONTENTS 4 5 6 8 11 13 14 17 20

PRESIDENT REPORT

EDITOR Phil Appleyard

EDITORIAL

SUB-EDITING NZ Fishing Media

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

ART DIRECTOR Lucy Davidson

CLUB OF THE YEAR

CONTENT ENQUIRIES Helen Pastor

ANGLER OF THE YEAR NZSFC NATIONALS JUNIOR ANGLER FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

027 485 3600 secretary@nzsportfishing.org.nz

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Scott Taylor 021 862 579 sales@nzfishingnews.co.nz www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

GOFUEL EXCLUSIVE OFFER

COVER SHOT:

False Killer Whales – photo supplied by Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club – McPhee

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PRESIDENTS REPORT

H EL L O Hello all. After a very busy Annual General Meeting, it’s now on to the new year and looking forward to some great fishing over the holiday period and the Nationals in February.

A great big thank you goes out to the Tauranga Sport Fishing Club for hosting the Annual General Meeting this year. Their team worked tirelessly to ensure that we had a very successful Annual General Meeting and did a wonderful job. Thank you also to all the volunteers who helped us get all the jobs done over the weekend.

Also, I would like to say thank you to all the volunteers who work at our member clubs, helping to make our lives at the Sport Fishing Council smoother and much easier.

We had an amazing four-week run of the southern bluefin tuna, and hopefully this will continue to become an annual event. Waihau Bay did a great job; thank you for all the help with the weighing of fish and accommodating the hundreds of anglers who turned up in a small community.

The Hiwi the Kiwi show is again on the road, and Mark de Lacy has just attended the biggest school so far, with over 900 children.

It is fabulous to see such a diverse community embracing the Hiwi the Kiwi message.

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We have had changes in our administration, with Helen Pastor taking over from Dave Lockwood. As Helen is new in the position and new to the NZ Sport Fishing Council, I’m sure you will get the chance to meet her over the next few months. (Helen has written a few words that I have attached to the end of my report.) She has completed her first three months without any issues, and I look forward to continuing to work with her, now and into the future, as we continue to grow.

The yearbook is well underway and I would like to remind all clubs that we need their club information and catch records urgently to ensure it is correct when printed.

Finally, I would like to thank the board members who I have worked with over the past year and who have all agreed to be on the board again for another year. Thank you all for your support and input.

Happy fishing,

Phil Appleyard President

EDITORIAL

H

ello everyone my name is Helen Pastor and I have taken over the job from Dave Lockwood, who has moved on to a new position with the charity supporting Surfing New Zealand.

I have been a sailor most of my life and was involved with the Pakuranga Sailing Club, culminating in the position of Commodore.

Boating is a large part of what we do, and I have a brother in law, two sisters in law, a son in law and two nephews who are passionate about fishing. So, you can see that I am surrounded by fishermen and women.

However, usually I get to drive while they all fish, as they are better at it than I am.

I have come into your organisation from a background initially of a legal executive, working in accountancy and desktop publishing through the years. Recently I have been the administration manager at

the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club and was involved with the club’s magazine, yearbook, membership, employment documentation and the financial accounting for the club.

I hope to bring skills to your organisation that will enable us to move forward on an organised pathway, and look forward to working and hopefully meeting you all soon.

Helen Pastor

Administrator Officer New Zealand Sport Fishing Council Inc 027 485 3600 www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

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AWARDS

volunteer OF THE

This year the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council instigated three new awards for the Annual General Meeting and Prizegiving.

These awards were for Club of the Year, Volunteer of the Year and Angler of the Year.

The winner of these inaugural prizes were:-

Volunteer of the Year – this is a trophy for someone who we felt contributed to the all round sport of fishing.

Winner - Christine Elmiger – Waihau Bay Sport Fishing Club 6  www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

Year

Christine is the backbone of the Waihau Bay Sport Fishing Club, not only is she the Club Secretary but she also runs the weigh station during their tournaments or when no one else is available.

Being a neighbouring club, both Te Kaha and Waihau Bay boats regularly fish the same water using Waihau Bay Coastguard for their communications. During the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council Nationals, Christine was not only running the weigh station, but was keeping all the records and was regularly heard on the “wireless” keeping all the competitors updated with the results from the Council and any other required information.

AWARDS

T he c razy few weeks of the S ou the r n B lu e Fin Tu na r un off t he East Cape was a spe cif ic time w he n Chr is ti ne s h owe d t he extent of her commitme nt.

Not only did Christine spend most of this time weighing Southern Blue Fin Tuna for all the anglers at unusual times, she also spent a lot of time trying to appease a few angry locals who had their verges ripped up and of course all the other problems that happen when a competition is underway.

Christine had her grandchildren with her for the holidays during this time and all they got to do with Nana was learn how to weigh Tuna!

Christine is also the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council Delegate for Waihau Bay and

she hardly misses any zone meetings where she not only contributes, but also take the minutes for Zones 3, 4 and 8. This is a job that others are happy for her to handle, and she does so very well.

WE are sure she does a lot more for her club and the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council than we are aware of and feel that she has been a worthy recipient for this inaugural trophy.

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CLUB OF THE YEAR

Club Year of the

Club of the Year – this trophy was open to all clubs who have competed successfully, shown an outstanding ability to provide for its members and contributed to the community. The committee had to consider the effectiveness of the club considering their structure, planning and volunteers, facilities and training and members. It also had to take into considerations tournaments and competitions, the successes of these and numbers attending. Finally consideration was to be given to the contributions to the community and to fisheries management and research. This entailed seeing how the greater community are engaged with the club. What schools have been engaged through the club, Hiwi the Kiwi and other school programmes. We considered how the club is engaged with Legasea and Fisheries Research including the Tagging programme.

WINNER – Whangamata

Ocean Sports

Club Inc.

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Whangamata Ocean Sports Club have a large staff with over 30 employees, including management, administration, host responsibility, bar and restaurant. They have put in a new kitchen and the club serves over 50,000 meals a year. This has become a huge asset to the club and its members.

The club has now over 6,000 members and has a huge base of committed and passionate supporters from all over New Zealand and further abroad, with even a member from Alaska – which is a long way to come for a drink.

As well as running tournaments, the club offers a large range of events during the year for their members to enjoy. These include the annual fashion parade and quiz nights, of which funds raised went to local charities and of course the wine tasting evenings which are very popular with members. They also run a very successful Pink Ribbon Breakfast and last year raised over $3,400 for breast cancer research.

CLUB OF THE YEAR

The club has a hands-on committee and a great asset during tournaments. They have also elected their first female commodore.

The club also has a large group of committed locals who help all year, but especially during the summer with setting up and supporting tournaments.

Whangamata’s Flagship tournament is the A1 Homes Classic which attracted over 500 anglers last year. With support from a huge range of sponsors, they were able to offer over $50,000 worth of prizes. A great tournament with over 449 of the anglers being either members or affiliated members, which is a great result. Their Nauti Girls competition is a great success and continues to be so.

With over 450 anglers they have fancy dress,

It is worth noting that their first New Zealand Tournament was in 1981 and their first ladies’ tournament was in 1984 and they are both still going strong and are very popular tournaments.

As far as the local community is concerned, the club works hard running the annual kids

photo competition and of course the after competition party.

The club is working hard encouraging their junior anglers with over 60 anglers being either members or prospective members. The fish came in just in time in early March for the youngsters to have fun with skipjack and albacore tuna.

One of their unusual competitions is the Surf ‘n’ Turf tournament. This is made up of teams of up to 4 members and each team needs to catch a snapper and a wild boar. This was incorporated in with the local “Katch 4 Kids” children’s hunting and fishing competition and it really set the tone for the seniors.

With lots of fishing, hunting and fun prizes each team went home with something.

Wharf Fishing comp. This is run in conjunction with the NZ Police Blue Light Association.

Funds from the New Year Tournament go to this cause and with it they put up prizes, food and drinks for nearly 100 children. All children are told about Legasea with promotional material and prizes.

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CLUB OF THE YEAR

Whangamata Ocean Sports Club donate to a lot

of local clubs and Services in their region ranging from the local Fire Service, Equestrian Club, Community Trust and Rescue Helicoper to the Police and Whangamata Coast Guard.

As far as their contribution to Fisheries Management and Research the club recently hosted a forum/discussion for the Hauraki Gulf Sea Change Document. The local MP, Mayor and District Mayor attended along with local Iwi and Nagti Hei representative, Scott Macindoe from Legasea and Dirk Sieling of the Stakeholder Working Group. This meeting was well attended with over 150 locals interested in the proposed document.

It was a well constructed meeting Chaired

by Peter Campbell vice-president of New Zealand Sport Fishing Council.

Along side this the office manager and committee actively promote and support Legasea on behalf of the Club. With donations, sign ups and emails to members with relevant information, the Whangamata Ocean Sports Club takes its fishing for the future very seriously.

The Tag and Release section of their tournaments is a huge draw card. They offer a $10,000 prize pool to the first Marlin Tagged and Released – something that Anglers have to think long and hard about as they have this beautiful fish along side their boat. They also promote a prize for the 1st Marlin tagged out of their Harbour and waters.

Well done

Whangamata you

have earned your position as the winner of the Club of the Year Trophy.

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ANGLER OF THE YEAR

ANGLER

of the

Year WINNER –

Donna Pascoe Houhora

Big Game & Sports Fishing Club!

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ANGLER OF THE YEAR

THIS TROPHY IS OPEN TO ALL ANGLERS WHO HAVE COMPETED SUCCESSFULLY AT CLUB, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL, AND CONTRIBUTED TO SPORT FISHING.

The winner – Donna Pascoe Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club!

Donna’s interest in fishing came later in life.

Around 2006, husband Ken suggested he’d like to get her involved in game fishing.

Debbie Bunn sys she started by fishing the Whangaroa & WDSAC Ladies with her, and in the process watched her tag her first marlin.

That was it, apparently you could see she was hooked!

It is therefore all the more rewarding to see Donna achieve so much in the 11 short years she has been fishing. During that time Donna has earned many awards, including the unforgettable World Record Pacific bluefin tuna, weighing 411.60kg during the 2014 Nationals. She has battled with shoulder problems over the years, but this has not affected her determination.

Donna and husband Ken are strong supporters of the Houhora Club and always make the effort to attend the club’s AGM, even though they live in Auckland.

In closing, and trying not to sound gender precious, Donna is an inspiration to all women young and old, of what you can achieve with the right attitude and support. We are sure that the Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club is very proud to have her as a member.

• Snooks & Lola Fuller Tagging Trophy (angler most points): 300 for billfish and 100 for shark, total 400 (nine striped marlin, three blue marlin, one broadbill, one mako shark) • ASB Bank Kaitaia Ladies Champion Angler (billfish, shark, tuna, kingfish and tagged billfish) New club line-weight record and silver pin for blue marlin, 420.40kg on 60kg and heaviest yellowfin tuna, 76.6kg, 60kg tackle.

National achievements within the achievement period, including national titles won and new national records established: • New Zealand Record for heaviest yellowfin tuna 76.6kg on 60kg tackle caught at North Cape on Feb 21, 2017 • New Zealand Sports Fishing Council Billfish Tagging Grand Slam Award (for tagging striped marlin, blue marlin, black marlin, broadbill, spearfish) New Zealand Sports Fishing Council Simrad ITM National achievements: • New Zealand Champion Billfish Angler, blue and black marlin, 1586.22 points • Champion New Zealand Angler, blue and black marlin, 1136 pts (420.4kg on 37kg)

Significant club or regional achievements by Donna Pascoe within the achievement period, including club competitions and new club records established:

• New Zealand Line Weight Angler, blue and black marlin, 420.4 on 37kg

• Bellingham Family Trophy (for the first tagged & released marlin)

• New Zealand Billfish Angler Tag & Release, striped marlin, 36000 points, eight marlin

• Bill Hall Trophy (most tagged & released marlin): nine striped marlin and three blue marlin

• New Zealand Sports Fishing Council Trophy

• Far North Sports & Blue Water Charters Trophy Heaviest YF Tuna: 76.6kg on 60kg • Pearl Goodhue Trophy (heaviest blue marlin): 420.40kg on 60kg 12  www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

• New Zealand Line-Weight Angler, tuna (yellowfin) 76.6kg on 60kg

• Peter & Noeline Short Memorial Tagging Trophy, eight striped marlin and three blue marlin • Northern Clubs’ Heaviest Tuna Trophy (Yellowfin) 76.6kg.

NATIONALS

2018 17-24 FEBRUARY

Entry $25 per angler Fish anywhere in NZ NZ Championship awards at stake Enter via your affiliated fishing club.

For full details and terms and conditions visit

www.nzsportfishing.org.nz

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JUNIOR ANGLER

The

HIGHS

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and lows

JUNIOR ANGLER

The highs and lows

of a day’s fishing

It was a lovely morning, very sunny and no wind.

Dad had been listening to the VHF radio at home to find out what was happening on the marlin fishing out of Marsden Cove and ­Tutukaka for the last couple of days.

With no fish weighed for the Metalcraft or Beach and Boat tournaments, he ­commented that the fish weren’t here in numbers yet.

I persisted, saying we should go out and try for my first marlin, so Dad texted Steve from Cara J to find out what was happening out there. The return text gave us an idea where some reasonable water was, so a plan was hatched...

Leaving home at 12pm saw Mum, Dad and I arriving at the boat an hour later. Then, as we were leaving the car, Dad grabbed this Eftpos card, saying we might need it today.

Marsden Cove was real busy it was the final day of the Beach and Boat, and prize-giving was that night.

Dad called into Coastguard for our trip report at about 1.30pm as we headed out of Marsden Cove Marina towards the eastern end of the Chicks for a couple of kahawai live baits.

We then headed north-east at about 18 knots, looking for a good water temperature, with Dad stopping as we hit the 20.5-degree mark.

Soon after we had the lures out, six rods and the Witch Doctor teaser. The sea was dead calm and it was hot as.

After cruising around for ages, Dad said the water temperature has come up to 21.5 degrees, and asked me to check the lures for weed.

We spotted some birds in the distance, so headed for them; there, we found some very large dolphins and false killer whales working a wide area.

Then Dad shouted that there was a massive whale in front of us - at least twice as big as our launch (which is 35 feet!), so we headed over to that to have a look and a photo.

By the time we got there it was gone, so we turned back to where the dolphins were feeding, but only got halfway back before one of the rods started screaming!

No one had seen what it was, so Dad jumped down the stairs as Mum took the wheel. Next, Dad and I wound the other lures in, before Dad yelled at me to put the harness on, grab the rod and jump into the chair.

Dad went back upstairs to grab the wheel off Mum, and asked her to tidy up the cockpit, as lures were everywhere. All I could hear was Dad saying, “Wind, wind, wind!”, then the comment: “Hope it’s not another mako!”

Then I saw some splashing about 300 metres away, no jumps, just splashing on the surface – it was a marlin!

I was on the fish for about 40 minutes, but it seemed like 10 minutes to me.

Finally it was getting close, and Dad asked Mum to get the tag pole. But Mum and I wanted to keep the marlin, so the flying gaff was brought out.

I could see the leader, so Mum took the wheel and Dad put the gloves on, before grabbing the leader and slowly pulling the marlin closer to the boat, also commenting that it looked short and probably wouldn’t weigh.

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JUNIOR ANGLER

Dad held the leader in one hand and gaffed the fish with the other hand; the fish went limp. Mum put the boat in neutral and we all pulled the marlin in through the door. It was high fives all round what a buzz!

Dad got the tape measure out and said 2.4 metres might just make the weight, and said it looked fat. Dad called the marlin into Tutukaka Game Club on the radio, and heaps of people on other boats called in with their congratulations. About 6pm was arranged for weighing at Tutukaka.

Backing into the weigh station, there were heaps of people gathered.

After tying the boat up, the weighmaster was waiting; his first comment was he thought it was a blue marlin.

Dad taped the mouth closed and the hoist lifted the marlin up to the weighing area while Dad tidied the boat.

When the guy said 121.8kg, Dad replied “Really?!” before grabbing the rod we caught it on and joining us at the weigh-station.

They wrote the details on then catch board, and Dad went into the office to fill the paperwork out.

The guy there said to Dad that the marlin was a pending club record for a junior, so the lure, leader and double were measured and a length of line taken off the rod.

After heaps of photos, Dad noticed they had spelled my name wrong on the board, so they corrected it, then did heaps more photos to lots of applause.

Some guy asked if he could measure the marlin up for research, which he did. After that we put the marlin back in the boat and we decided to have a drink and some hot chips from the bistro.

It was time to head back to Marsden Cove, a trip of about 1.5 hours. Dad checked the fuel – there were about 125 litres left, so that should be heaps to get back.

Heading back to Marsden Cove I was buzzing – it was a dead-calm sea and we were cruising at 18

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knots, accompanied by a beautiful sunset. It was getting dark as we entered the heads at the harbour entrance - then suddenly, there were lights flashing and alarm noises from the flybridge. Dad stopped the boat. We were by Peach Cove. The computer said ‘electrical fault’. Dad checked the fuel gauge, which still said 85 litres in the tank.

Then he checked the engines and tried to start them. No go. Dad was stressing out. Finally, he decided to call the Coastguard for a tow back to Marsden Cove Marina.

Two hours later, they turned up for the tow-in; Dad’s first time ever breaking down in 35 years of owning a boat.

On the way in, all the engine manuals came out and were checked. Dad said he thought it was fuel, so asked Coastguard to put us on the fuel dock at the marina. After putting 250 litres of diesel in (half a tank), Dad tried one engine, then decided to bleed the system. He tried starting again, and this time we were up and running, back to our berth on one engine, the alarm gone. The fuel gauge was out by 85 litres.

By this stage we had a welcoming crowd from the Beach and Boat contestants and berth holders, with a lot of cheering and yelling. Some people were pretty drunk.

We lifted the marlin onto the trolley and put it in the back of Dad’s ute.

Then Dad bled the other engine and tested it - all okay. After a quick clean-up of the boat, it was off home, getting back at 2.30am. But what a day!

Dad decided to check what the junior girls NZ record was when we got home, and it was vacant.

I couldn’t sleep that night. We applied for the NZ record, so sitting proudly on the wall is my certificate for New Zealand Junior Girls Blue Marlin: 121.8kg on 24kg line.

Yours sincerely,

Samantha Hayes

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT UPDATE

SOUTHERN T U N A F I S H E RY IN THE NORTH

BY JOHN HOLDSWORTH

Some excellent information from tuna long-line fishers and a social-media storm saw hundreds of anglers gamefishing in July with great success.

Thanks largely to the hard work by members of the Waihau Bay Sport Fishing Club and the patience of returning anglers, we have weigh-station data for a high proportion of landed catch. This is useful for describing the fishery and estimating total recreational harvest.

Southern bluefin catches

A total of 266 southern bluefin tuna were recorded as landed and 13 released from the east coast recreational fishery, mostly from late June and July. The peak days were over the weekend of July 14 and 15, when 124 fish were caught - nearly half the total number.

We don’t have records for unsuccessful trips, but the average catch across all successful boats that weekend and overall was one and a half tuna per trip. A few crews caught four or five tuna per day.

120

100

Number of trips

t

he sudden success of the southern bluefin tuna (SBT) fishery off Cape Runaway captured the imagination of aspiring anglers around the country and, no doubt, sent some ripples around the world. It is very rare to find large southern bluefin tuna reasonably close to the coast in large numbers.

80

60

40

20

0

?

0

1

2

3

4

5

Catch of SBT per trip

Figure 1: The catch of southern bluefin tuna per day per boat in 2017.

For many anglers it was the size of the southern bluefin tuna that got the heart racing. Most were over 60kg and the average weight was over 72kg (Figure 2).

A substantial recreational fishery for southern bluefin tuna has developed off southern Australia over the last 10 years, but most of these fish are juveniles around 40kg. Data from tagging programmes show that young southern bluefin tuna migrate seasonally between the south coast of Australia and the central Indian Ocean.

After age five, southern bluefin are seldom found in nearshore surface waters. There is some uncertainty about the size and age when SBT mature, but available data indicates that SBT do not mature younger than eight years (155cm fork 17  www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

NZMRF

length) and perhaps as old as 15 years. Several years of good spawning success led to the pulse of young fish off southern Australia. Those fish are now nine to 12 years old and probably make up the bulk of the fish over 60kg in the east coast fishery.

Weigh-station records show that 26 southern bluefin tuna over 100kg were landed this year (Figure 2). The heaviest was a 143.2kg fish caught

by Josh Holmes from the boat Westie 1.

80 70

Number of SBT

60 50

40 30 20 10 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100 110 120 130 140 150 160

Weight (kg)

Figure 2: The weight distribution of North Island southern bluefin tuna caught in 2017.

The total weight of southern bluefin tuna recorded by clubs is 19.4 tonnes, and allowing for charter boat catch from the South Island and unreported recreational landings, adds another five tonnes. Currently, the recreational allowance for southern bluefin tuna is eight tonnes, so clearly that will need to be reviewed.

In the Snapper 1 fishery, the Ministry for Primary Industries used the five-year average of recreational catch; using that criteria, our average catch would be under the allowance. However, that is not how the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) would view it.

Last year they passed a resolution that members are required to account for all fishing mortality of southern bluefin (including commercial fishing, discards, recreational catches and artisanal fishing etc.) from within their annual allocation of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC). Currently, New Zealand’s share of the 14,650 tonne TAC is 1,000 tonnes, but that will increase to 1088 tonnes in 2018. Having a

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good estimate of landed recreational catch will be very useful to ensure that the new allowance meets current and future needs. Don’t expect a blank cheque though - sport fishers will have to show some self-restraint about what they keep to ensure we stay within sustainable limits and avoid waste of this high-value fish.

Southern bluefin stock still depleted

Commercial fishing for southern bluefin tuna began in 1952 when Japanese long-liners expanded into the Indian and Southern Pacific Ocean. These tuna soon became a high-value target species and global catch peaked in 1961 at 81,750 tonnes. The Australian fishery took catches of young fish, mainly by purse-seine, and peaked at 21,500 tonnes in 1982.

The CCSBT assesses the status of the stock and sets the global catch limits. For the last three years the global catch limit for member states has been 14,647 tonnes. A strict catch documentation scheme has been introduced so that each fish landed must have a uniquely numbered tag and documentation. This provides for tracking and validation of legitimate southern bluefin at each step, from catch to the point of first sale on domestic or export markets.

Southern bluefin tuna have been caught in New Zealand waters for a long time and have always been present off East Cape (Figure 3). Until the late 1980s, this was mainly by foreign-licence vessels from Japan. Our domestic longline fleet started fishing northern waters and, as more southern bluefin tuna quota has become available, they have fished off Fiordland and West coast in April and May. The 2014 southern bluefin tuna stock assessment suggested that the spawning biomass (total weight of all female southern bluefin in the population) was at a very low fraction (9%) of its original biomass and well below stock target levels. However, there has been some improvement in survey data and catch rates since then, and the results of a new assessment will be available this year.

NZMRF

Figure 3: The global distribution of southern bluefin tuna catch for two time periods. The size of the circle increases with higher catch. The only known spawning area is in the Indian Ocean, southeast of Java, Indonesia (red star).

Challenges for anglers There will be considerable interest in the southern bluefin tuna fishery off the east coast of the North Island next winter. Anglers will be looking forward to the challenge of finding and fishing schools of large tuna, and social media will quickly spread the word.

However, there is no guarantee that the fishery in 2018 will the same as it was this year. The fish may be a lot further offshore, the weather conditions could be worse and some less experienced people may try their luck. Boat owners are responsible, so they need to be prepared to ensure the safety of the crew, as well as quickly provide assistance if boats around them get into trouble.

Another challenge is to release more of the catch. Satellite tagging in Australia has proven good survival of southern bluefin of all sizes. Longer fight times did not increase mortality, but deep hooking did. Release all fish alongside the boat. If the hook can be seen, removing it with a de-hooker on a pole is best. Fish as a team and share any fish you keep.

Yes, they are good eating, but how long will it take your family to eat 50kg of sashimi or steaks, and how many months will it spend in the freezer?

We have a remarkable opportunity to access high quality fresh tuna from a stock that is still recovering from a very low level.

Treat each fish with the respect it deserves and look after the fish you keep. It is best practice to land them on a cool, soft surface. Dispatch the fish quickly by spiking the brain, iki jime style.

This is better for the welfare of the fish and also stops the fish moving (which can cause the flesh to heat up and reduce its quality). Bleed the tuna by making a deep cut behind the pectoral fin on both sides to reduce the amount of blood retained in the flesh. The more blood that is released, the milder the resulting flavour. Poorly-bled bluefin tuna are often too rich in taste for most people.

The IGFA now allows spiked and bled tuna to be weighed within its rules.

Chill your fish quickly with salt ice and protect it from the sun.

NZSFC and LegaSea will be developing some recommendations about voluntary recreational limits on southern bluefin tuna landed catch, and hope to discuss these aspects with clubs in the near future.

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SUPPORTER CLUB PREFERRED AGREEMENT Rebate of 1c Mobil and .5c for BP & Z per litre of fuel purchased by the club and its members when using GOfuel fuelcards.

The rebate will be paid to any participating Sport Fishing Club (NZSFC) that signs up as a GOfuel Supporter Club.

To be eligible for this offer the club must: •

Be a member club of the NZSFC.

•

Promote the GOfuel Offer and application form on the club website. » GOfuel can provide you an embed code for your website.

•

Undertake at least two GOfuel promotions per annum. For example: » Inclusion in newsletters. » Inform / remind members of the GOfuel offer on club nights.

GF033 NSFC Supporter Agreement 1.0 Oct 2017

» Display GOfuel brochures at the club.

•

Communicate with members that current GOfuel Sport Fishing Club card holders should advise GOfuel their preferred club by emailing gofuel@plpl.co.nz with their account name and/or account number.

•

Rebates will be paid to the individual club once the rebate amount reaches $100 or more for your club.

For any assistance required please contact: Jo Warren: Phone; 021506075 or Email; gofuel@plpl.co.nz

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Auckland Office Phone 09 377 0907 • Email gofuel@plpl.co.nz • www.gofuel.co.nz