As Charles Dickens wrote, “it was one of those March days when the sun shines hot, and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade.”
In my case I was high in the ranges on the East Coast, the first of the autumn snows lay upon the Seaward Kaikoura Ranges and the sun had, just an hour ago, put on a glorious display as it climbed up out of the Pacific Ocean.
The westerly wind was strong and cold as it bu eted my ridge-line silhouette, but I knew better than to strike out with an overburden of clothing. Once the sun stepped out of her eye-catching horizontally striped, pink and orange skirt, she’d bare down with a golden smile so scorching she’d have me sweating in my boots.
Half an hour later, I was indeed sweating and cold at the same time. None of that mattered when another being joined me on the crest of the ridge. He slipped sideways from his route to accompany me for a minute or two. Long enough for me to say “gidday gorgeous” and shuck my daypack like an amateur stripper. With wings positioned justso he maintained eye contact, stationary but in flight and just metres away.
“Please stay, please, please stay,” I mutter, dragging the camera from my pack.
The potential photo of a New Zealand falcon in-flight, sun-kissed and
so close I could see the glint on his eye was mouth-watering. But, as I lifted my bulky camera aloft, my airborne friend tipped a tail feather, and, without further ado, continued his sideways slip before streaking o into the great beyond.
Later, much later, when I’d lugged the camera and my work gear for hours on end, when the sweat had risen from my boots all the way up to my scalp and saturated my clothing with salt and stink, I still had no reward from a photographic point of view.
As I begin to climb a steep and blu -strewn spur out of Hell’s bowels I glimpse a lone goat below me. Only days earlier the aerial cull crew had flown, sourcing all life forms with their thermal and blitzing them from above. Poor goat had done well to survive but now she is obviously lonely and looking for a friend. Stock-still she watches my antics as I scramble ever upward. I look back at her often, a dull pooh-brown, she faces directly towards me, never moving, never calling. No photo opportunity here, just a boring old goat watching another boring old goat.
As I accrue metres, I ascertain a better viewing angle. Old Mrs Pooh-Brown sure is a narrow, leggy critter. One could almost be forgiven for thinking she resembled a chamois. One would be mistaken, there
Kim Swan
haven’t been chamois seen here before, and now, now there’s professional cullers ensuring one doesn’t see much of anything other than a sweaty woman working the hills and lugging a redundant camera.
On one of the many stops I make to assess the terrain (aka taking a rest) I look back at Mrs Pooh-Brown. Just then a down-draft catches her flaring nostrils, and she finally registers me as human. She promptly bounds from rock to rock, tail high - she doesn’t have distinct chamois markings, but she sure does move like a chamois!
At the last rock before diving into cover, leggy old Mrs Pooh-Brown pauses, side-on, and whistles - just like a chamois. Yup, the old girl ain’t no goat, and I ain’t never took a photo to prove it. Days later I’m out early, hunting with dogs, rifle, and, of course, lugging the heavy
camera. We work hard, looking to find a fresh ground trail or to catch a pork-scented waft of breeze. It appears the cupboard is bare, there is nothing here –just three fat females and Boston, who sorta reminds me of the Bear in the Woods joke, him being as big as a rabbit and with non-stick fur. Eventually Pearl and Kola wend their way up onto a high terrace,
working hard in the metre-high summer-dried grass. At their level it is an impenetrable jungle, dusty and devoid of air movement. They’re unfit but they press on, both experienced and determined. Down below I wait silently while Boston samples a dehydrated sheep dung. He is too small, too lightweight, to make headway through the grass with the others. Above I hear a grunt, a bark. Pig on. We’re o . The pig squeals and a little part of me feels disappointed. Something bigger may have resulted in a bail. A bail may have resulted in a good photo. The bloody camera, lugged so far and so often, is going
to be redundant again. Still, the dogs have had an outing, and the pork will not go to waste. Watching Boston trying to forge his way through the vegetation has been hilarious, laughter is good for the soul.
Well, hello! The squealer is the smallest tusky boar I have ever seen. Clean-held he is no contest for the dogs, nor the knifewielding human, but he is remarkable for his teeth. He is a toothpaste advertisers’ dream.
Is the wee boar old, but stunted? Or is he young, but with tusky genes? He’s not even the length of my rifle, which is of the cutdown variety. So, the camera does get a workout after all, with me behind it and the other fat females and Boston in front of it, posing, begrudgingly, with Little Boy Blue –surely the toothiest 50 pounder this side of the Motu!
I
t’s no secret we now have a blossoming bluefin tuna fishery here in Kaikoura. For the last three years it has got better and better with this year’s discovery being they are here a lot earlier than we thought, January instead of April.
Operating a fishing charter business in Kaikoura, Top Catch Charters, has meant I am on the spot when conditions and commitments allow. I am also up with any intel on what’s going on.
On February 17 the stars seemed to align with good conditions all day and finishing work at 3.00pm would allow for a few hours trolling before dark. My son Jack travelled up from Christchurch and met me at my place after work. We swapped out the charter rods for some game fishing rigs and were back on the water at 4.00pm. It
does help I live a mere three-minute drive from the South Bay ramp. We headed out to where I had seen bluefin free jumping in the past and set the lures out to do their thing. We had a 37kg rig as shot gun, a 24kg rig a bit closer and a 15kg rig 10 metres behind the outboard in case any albacore tunas were around. The next hour was taken up by covering a bit of ocean at seven knots keeping an eye out for bust ups or bird life. Conditions were perfect with no wind and just a gentle swell. We hit action stations, as the 15kg set up had gone o and was taking line at a good rate. The other two rigs were retrieved and put away allowing Jack to get to work on the fish. I called it for an albacore and got the landing net ready, while encouraging Jack to keep up the good work and be careful not to
Malcolm Halsteadget the line wrapped up in the outboard as the fish surfaced. On a final circle under the boat the fish emerged, and Jack exclaimed, “it’s a bloody bluefin!”
I quickly abandoned the landing net and got the flying ga out and set the hook into his side. Together we hoisted our prize into the boat and could not believe what had just played out. We had done it; we had landed a pristine kaikoura bluefin weighing 30kg. They are the most amazing fish I have seen and to have one landed in my boat by my son is something I will never forget. Both families have dined well since this day, and I can’t wait to get back out there and catch some more. We are truly lucky to have this fishery in Kaikoura and I look forward to seeing many happy anglers in the future.
In the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, debris and slash washed into the waters o Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti Gisborne. This was catastrophic for all marine users –underwater hazards can be incredibly dangerous to all sorts of vessels.
Commercial
fishing vessels were particularly hard hit as it became dramatically unsafe for fisherman to fish in their usual way. Waters that were full of hazards – underwater logs, building materials and even car parts. And these objects weren’t just a physical threat to safe fishing, they became a serious psychological threat as fishers took a huge financial hit from not being able to fish.
Napier-based fisher Karl Warr has been fishing for gurnard and flatfish in the waters of Hawke’s Bay for over 20 years on his modified trawler, FV Chips. He fishes fairly close to shore, which means locals are familiar with the sight of his boat.
Fishing in shallower waters also meant the debris that washed into
Albacore Tuna are turning up in reasonable numbers o Mana and Kapiti Islands. Water temps of 23 degrees on the north side of Kapiti have been common. Perfect for these tasty critters to come on the chew!
There are some decent specimens out there up to 15kg and more.
Tackle doing the damage: Black Magic Jetsetter Burple and fruit salad. Trolled at 7-10 knots.
the bay in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle had an immense impact on Warr’s ability to fish.
“I don’t have the capacity to fish far away from home. If we don’t catch, we don’t eat, so my first day back on the water was five days after the cyclone. I put my gear
down and had to stop after 15 minutes,” he remembers.
Something needed to be done and that something came about in mid-October 2023, in the form of a hazard-mapping project led by Seafood New Zealand Inshore Council, supported
by FirstMate, projectmanaged by Guard Safety, and funded through the North Island Weather Event (NIWE) Time-Critical Primary Industries Recovery Fund.
About four days a month for four months, FV Chips and 5 other vessels from the area, set out in pairs between the Hawkes Bay coast up to the East Cape, identifying and mapping where the underwater hazards lurk. This was much-needed paid work for these fishers.
To identify where hazards are, the vessels towed their normal fishing equipment bolstered with additional safety measures, such as quickrelease ropes, should they encounter any significant debris under the water. Participating fishers recorded their
start and end locations, as well as their rough tow line and direction.
During the tow, they also mapped any vessel stops or starts as well as when they run into targets –debris. Warr says after he ran into buried debris, he would often turn the vessel and go over it again a few more times to assess if it’s still a hazard or has been su ciently dislodged. Items that can’t be pulled up and are still safety issues are also mapped and the information passed on to local stakeholders.
“It was reasonably nerve-wracking to start out with,” Warr admits. “You were going into the hornet’s nest, and you knew it. We had whole nets ripped to pieces or torn. But then some tows we had no problems.
“We found quite a lot of buried logs from native and exotic trees. Ninety-five per cent are buried with a little piece sticking out. Some act like an anchor and tear the bottom of your net out. Sometimes you can pull out the whole item – one day we had two feet of stump with roots.”
Warr says the project helped to speed up the process of safely returning fishing grounds to use, which is especially important to bring business back to the region and ensure local food security should another weather event leave the Gisborne and Hawkes Bay regions isolated again.
The data collection is now being analysed. Once finalised, information will be shared with other marine users, including recreational fishers.
“This project has been much appreciated at my end and has had a massive impact in getting me back on my feet. It’s allowed us to go and open an area that fishers have been too anxious to throw ourselves into, or too hazardous to map on our own,” Warr says.
“It’s fairly bold of the government to have stepped in, so we’re hoping to set a positive example of how e ective collaboration with industry can be. This is new ground for helping out fishers.”
Look for changes in colour , where the blue meets the green water and watch out for the little black Shearwater birds. These are good places to start trolling. I like to have 3 lures out.
One out long in the middle.
One each on the Starboard and Port sides on the second and third wave o the motor.
Be sure to bleed and gut them straight away and pack with salt ice. Superb eating!
We hadn’t had much luck so far this season and decided to prospect a new area, depth and time of day. We found the depth we were after, less than 20 metres, then cruised the surtees around looking for enough sign to stop and set up. We found some indications and dropped anchor and set the berley. Things were quiet for 15 minutes or so and while we were considering plan’s B, C and so on, my line went tight and up came a perfect 37-centimetre snapper.
As we all know, one fish is awkward and looks lonely in the bin, but in the next 10 minutes I boated another, around the 40-centimetre mark.
We now have a meal and some good eats. I landed another couple of snappers and let the family know, they are more than welcome to start catching some too if they want, in that sarcastic ‘Dad’ tone we learnt at Dad school.
Next thing Carol’s little Okuma set up from hunting & Fishing bent over. Putting up a very
good fight it was a relief to get this snapper on board – our biggest so far and Carol’s PB at 53 centimetres and 7.5lb. Jasper soon followed with another PB, a 60 centimetre, 10lb specimen.
Max emerged from the cabin and figured he should partake and up came his PB, a 62 centimetre, 11lb snapper, which he then added to with a good PB trevally. Max has annoying form for this, minimal e ort, maximum results!
We now had enough for a feed and some to share with our neighbours who do not
fish and frames and heads for another local chap. The action ensured we all learnt how to really manage drag, the real meaning of ‘lift and wind’ and our home tied pink flasher rigs did the trick and took the pressure. We landed another 60-centimetre fish, which was suitable for release, and it powered back down. Love that sight.
At this point, I was on full-time ‘Dadmin’ duties. Cutting bait, landing and releasing fish. I called a stop as we had plenty and I was not fishing now, my sar-
asman Bay 8kg Bait Box
Bullet Tuna (Baby Bonito)
Barracouta Sides approx 2kg
Arrow Squid Premium Grade 100-200g
Arrow Squid Bait Ungraded
Trevally Skin on Fillets
Tuna & Squid Burley Bombs approx 2kg
and just kept some smaller eaters. Great to be able to fish from a spot that we can leave home at 6.30am and have lines in at 7.30, home by 11.30am, after a co ee at Ruby’s of course.
castic snipes earlier had backfired on me! Always feels good when we call the stop, not the fish. I had a bit of filleting, more ‘Dadmin’ to do.
We have been back to that spot a couple of times since with similar results, even a 65 centimetre that was measured and released. So far, we have released four fish between 55
The Okuma Baitfeeder gear from Hunting & Fishing is great value and perfect for Tasman Bay snapper. Our main learning is how to prospect for new spots depending on the time of year. As always, no matter the outcome of a day’s fishing, look for the learnings. The Dawnbreakers crew are always keen to share ways to make fishing better.
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If you ask most university students, waking up at 5.00 am on a Saturday morning to climb a mountain is the last thing they want to do. For me, it is a very common occurrence and this weekend was no di erent, with the added bonus of my mate Noah joining me for his second-ever South Island hunt.
A soft golden glow covered the DOC car-park as the dust from our cars settled. Despite still being half asleep, we wasted no time and got stuck into the walk as it was only going to get warmer as the day progressed. It didn’t take long for us to find some sign, with small patches of deer poo scattering the track edges. As we moved further up the mountain, there was less deer sign but an increasing amount of wallaby sign. With gorse spikes lining our back and battle scars covering our arms and legs, we broke out of the scrub
and got the first look at the hunting area. Having never been to this spot before, we thought our best bet would be to find a good vantage point and glue ourselves to the binoculars.
We very quickly got an understanding of what was in the area. No matter where we looked we saw wallaby—we were practically standing on them as we battled our way through the chesthigh tussock. A whole day of glassing flew by with the only notable moment being the novice North Island hunter discovering what a spaniard was, which I found extremely amusing. With so many wallabies around and very little feed, our chances of finding a deer were slim.
Having spotted nearly 100 wallabies, it was evident that they needed some culling so we set our sights on getting Noah his first wallaby.
On a clearing not far from our campsite we
Daniel Crimp
spied a large group of wallabies, with more appearing from the tussock every few minutes. Noah went first, creeping through the tussock armed with the .223. From 200 metres we managed to stalk into 30 metres, giving Noah a perfect shot at the wallabies. Boom!
The tussock around us erupted. Wallabies darted in
every direction and the whole group disappeared. Apart from one that lay dead in the clearing. By the time we reached the tent our tally had climbed to six and a few back legs were taken for the slow cooker. Already considering this a successful hunt we drifted o to sleep, thinking about how light our packs would be for the walkout.
The following morning, we decided to walk up 100 metres from the tent and have one last look for some wallabies before we left.
Noah was rummaging through my pack trying to find the range finder when I spotted
something unusual below us. Through the binos, I identified three pigs dozing in the sun only 120 metres away.
Having never shot a pig before, Noah lined up with the .223 first and I set up with the .30-06 in case they hung around after his shot.
The pigs were in no rush to go anywhere so Noah took his time getting set up and, once comfortable… Boom!
A 40 lb pig dropped on the spot.
BOOM! The .30-06 spoke next, dropping the other pig on top of its mate.
With two goodeating pigs on the ground we were
stoked, but I was still glued to the rifle. The larger of the three pigs had disappeared after the first shot but I was hopeful it would re-appear any second. Sure enough, the big sow made the fatal mistake of leaving the scrub and the .30-06 put her lights out. The sow was fat as mud and weighed easily over 100 lb, while the two smaller ones weighed around 40 lbs, meaning, after a quick hillside butcher, we walked out with very heavy packs and very big smiles.
At the end of the day, I am always intrigued by what fish are actually eating in their natural environment. While we all have our own ideas about what we should use to capture them, fish remains the judge of whatever you put in front of them, and in some cases, I have found bizarre things inside them.
At the filleting bench, when all of the filleting is done, I like to line up all of the stomachs and work out what each fish has been feeding on. This can make a huge di erence in improving your fishing skills and is fascinating to me.
Here are a few of the weirdest things I have found in recent memory
Upon opening up a large gurnard over 1.2kg, I find that the usual paddle crab prey is absent. These bigger specimens swap over to larger prey. Sometimes, seeing what fits in their small stomach can be wild. One gurnard had three huge red bandfish barely fitting inside its
stomach. Yet it decided to eat my bait, too. Other gurnards have had whole flounder and even mantis shrimp, which have one of the quickest strikes in the animal kingdom. Gurnard take all of this in their stride and eat them anyway.
Kingfish are opportunistic feeders, and upon opening many recent fish I have kept, I was shocked to find a 95cm kingfish with 4 gurnards in its stomach, another with 3 blue cod, and finally, an 89cm fish that had been feeding on spotty sea perch and scarlet wrasse. Kingfish seem to have good taste for some of our besteating species. Do not discount putting down a live gurnard (heaven forbid) or any small reef fish as live bait; this is the lesson here! One particularly memorable fish was a brown trout from the Ngaruroro River in Hawkes Bay; I landed and kept the very fat and well-conditioned trout. Later on, when filleting it at home, I noticed that the stomach was not fat but had a big lump. I
completed the fillets before opening up the stomach and discovered that this lump was a large rock. To this day, it still stumps why this fish would ingest a rock, let alone manage to swallow it. The rock was never going to be able to be expelled due to its size and barely would have made it down its throat!
Disappointingly, opening up stomachs also has me finding more and more pieces of plastic. I have found trout, in particular, with small pieces of plastic bag inside that they mistake for small insects. It’s a sad reminder that we all have a part to play in keeping rubbish out of the rivers and oceans. If we want to keep eating fish, we should be more responsible with where our rubbish ends up in the long run.
I’m sure I will find plenty more wacky and wild things inside fish stomachs.
Cable Bay Pistol Club has four members joining the New Zealand team to compete in Bali. Three of us have been club members for a long time, and the last member joined to get more competitionbased training. This is quite an accomplishment for a small club of approximately 30 members, and I feel very proud to be a part of it. The other part is that we all shoot di erent styles of pistol: Johan - standard, Josh - production, Corbin - classic, and myself - open.
We will all be shooting the same stages or courses of fire, but each firearm’s challenges are slightly di erent.
While I have been to a few of these bigger matches, this will be the first time for the others. The match will be run as professionally as a world shoot and is what we call a lost brass match; we don’t pick up our used brass or help with running of the competition. Our role is to compete and do our best to achieve good results.
Multiple range sta will be watching us closely to ensure we follow safety precautions. Otherwise, a disqualification will be handed out, and the match will be over. It is best not to go there and ensure that you just shoot nice and tight.
The heat puts a whole di erent spin on how well things go. While we can do all
sorts of training, this is something that is hard to train for, so it is more about managing whilst over there because it’s a heat like no other.
These trips are also a financial drain on personal accounts, as it is all self-funded. There is limited sponsorship to be picked up, especially this year, with the firearm shops having a tough time due to people not spending. Tactical Solutions has been very good to me in the past, so I hope they can still support me. It’s an incredible privilege to compete for our country. The pride is real when we get to walk in at the opening ceremony and the start of a match with some of the best in the world will be there. I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me any suggestions or help regarding sponsorship.
We have two multi calibre suppressors available in the hybrid model and this is possible because the hybrid ba e system has tight tolerances allowing the small ranges of calibre. The hybrid ba e system also lowers the risk of stray bullets and bullet strike
• The first is suitable for 22 Hornet through to 243 including, 222, 223, 22-250, 243.
• The second suppressor is suitable for 6.5 through to 30-06 including 6.5 prc, 270, 7mm-08, 284, 280, 308, 7.62 x 39 etc (not including 300 PRC or belted magnums).
• 9” in length (230mm), sits 4” forward & 5” back over the barrel (this is a “fixed” length and cannot be changed or added to)
• Weight 360 – 370grams (alu internal muzzlebrake 5-6,000 rnds)
• Colour - Black
The 41mm 9” suppressor is most suited for those who like to clean their suppressor.
Fish Akitio was held on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of February, and what a great success it was. We had 43 boats entered and 217 anglers.
Friday was a fantastic day to be out on the water or fishing on land; around 50 kahawai were weighed in on land and at sea, and a great selection of fish was caught.
To top it o , Derek Tanser of the boat Tu Meke caught a marlin weighing in at just over 120 kg (on a $6.00 Temu lure). Way to go, Derek; this was the first ever caught at Akitio, which was so exciting for us as a club and, of course, Derek. Who would have thought, coming to little old Akitio, you would catch a marlin? But you did, and you’ve put us on the map.
Saturday, quite a few boats went out, but the wind got up, forcing the smaller boats to get called in; not long after, the bigger boats were also called in because of the wind, resulting in not as many fish being caught at sea or on land. Saturday night, there was a live band, and Weber School sold a roast meal, which was absolutely delicious.
We presented gifts to our President Bruce (Moose) Johnson and our Secretary Delwyn Eriksen who after four years are letting some new blood take the reels, we gave out some more spot prizes and the last major spot prize for the weekend. The night and the atmosphere was fantastic, even though we had no power till just after eight that night. But with a few generators nothing stopped us having fun.
Sunday saw about
20 boats sail before weigh-in. Prize giving went well, and the lucky winners had some excellent prizes to choose from. Tu Meke angler Derek Tanser picked up the Meritorious prize for his Marlin; other winners are listed below.
The Club would like to thank all our SPONSORS you are all awesome, all our volunteers, (the ground crews, our harbour master, the radio ladies, the registration ladies, Scott our figures man, Graeme our weigh master, his team, the clean-up crew, Di and the ladies that kept everyone fed and everyone that helped in any way, well done. Last but not least, special thanks to all the people who entered Fish Akitio; what a fantastic turnout from you all, and what a great bunch of people to deal with. We enjoyed catching up and seeing you all; some of you have been coming for years, and it’s always great to see you back. It was also great to see a few new ones experiencing fish Akitio for the first time. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year, and we hope to make it bigger and better than this year; happy fishing and keep catching those big ones.
LAND BASE RESULTS
KAHAWAI
1st Steve McLaren 2.40, 2nd Doug Bassett 2.26, 3rd Asher Moke 2.24
LAND BASE RESULTS
OTHER
1st Dean Follas (Shark) 4.02, 2nd Dean Follas 2.92, 3rd Dean Follas 2.10
BOAT RESULTS
GROPER:
1st Graeme Johnson 16.26, 2nd Greg Evans 13.54, 3rd Mathew Ball 13.04
TUNA
1st Mitchell Dean 10.40, 2nd Indy Wright 10.32, 3rd Shona Dean 7.00
TARAKIHI
1ST Shaun Turton 1.64, 2nd Hamish Lowe 1.32, 3rd Kerry Walshe 1.30
TRUMPETER
1st Paul Boyden 9.30, 2nd Indy Wright 6.36, 3rd Sarah Turton 5.82
KING FISH
1st Mathew Ball 14.96, 2nd Andrew Beatson 14.84, 3rd Simon Wilson 14.76
GAME FISH
1st Derek Tanser (Marlin) 120.20 kg KAHAWAI
1st Jed Jackson 2.36, 2nd Graeme Stephens 2.34, 3rd Rod Flemming 2.34
GURNARD
2025 competition dates will be available soon. You can contact the club at : akitioboatclub@xtra. co.nz
1ST Jed Jackson 1.30 2nd Johno Brophy 1.20, 3rd Jed Jackson 1.16
BLUE COD
1st Ian Taylor 2.30, 2nd Graeme Evans 2.18, Clay Lochead 2.12
SNAPPER
1st Bruce Fairhurst 4.10, 2nd Pat Heavey 2.46, 3rd Bruce Johnson 2.44
TOP BOAT OVER 6 METRES
Odd Balls and Reel Time drew on 22 points followed by I Dunno on 12 points TOP BOAT UNDER 6 METRES Rip, Shit & Bust won on 23 points followed by The Boss on 18 and Acosta on 16
The ride was wild from the kick o — but what a ride it was! Annette and I started The Fishing Paper 18 years ago and from the outset it developed a life of its own and it very quickly became apparent that we were just along for the journey.
We never imagined that it would become so popular, win multiple industry awards and endure for so long; today it still retains the highest circulation amongst other fishing and hunting publications. But it is more than a successful business model—it’s a mirror that reflects the best tradition of grass roots fishing and hunting. Over the years it has been the voice of readers, a platform from which many talented writers have fledged their pens— Daniel Crimp grew up with the paper and became a talented columnist in his own
right—and it took me all over the world: fishing the South China Sea, Malaysia, Borneo, hunting the Swarovski Estate in Austria and moose hunting in Sweden with Norma Ammunition. It also birthed a new venture for Annette and I— hosted international travel.
was right for a change in direction, and now we are very happy to introduce new owner Nicola Morris to the fold. Nicola has been at the helm for several months now and is very much the right person to be taking over from where we left o . In wishing her every success,
However, we don’t intend to be idle. The break from media deadlines allows us to focus on our hosted international travel. Annette and I love sharing our passion for travel with couples throughout New Zealand and get a real kick out of hosting people to
Now, with mixed emotions, it is time to announce that Annette and I have sold The Fishing Paper & Hunting News. After 18 years to the day, the time
we also acknowledge the immense support of our readers over the years and part with a deep sense of gratitude for your loyalty.
exotic destinations, including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, Canada, the Yukon and Alaska, Niue and now, East Africa. Something
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• Ngorongoro Crater
• Serengeti
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Daryl Crimp
must be working right because we have built up quite a team of repeat travellers. To coin an understatement, “Our hosted trips are a lot of fun!’
We specialise in small group excursions and have just put together our next trip for July/ August 2025: Daryl Crimp’s Adventure Africa: Kenya & Tanzania—a 16 day small group private nature safari. This safari covers it all: wildlife, history and culture. Highlights include bustling Nairobi, the Great Rift Valley, MT Kenya, the famous Ngorongoro Crater, the Masai Mara, Mt Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, more wild animals than you can shake a camera at, and much much more. (I stress that this is a non-hunting safari)
The Dark Continent is a compelling destination and Daryl Crimp’s Adventure
Africa is an exciting way to experience the magic and allure of one of the last wild frontiers. I have travelled Africa a lot over the past decade, so can share insights and bring a new dimension to a hosted safari that you might not otherwise get. This trip is strictly limited to 16 people and will sell out quickly, so if it sounds like you—contact me now for details: darylcrimp@gmail. com — 021 472 517
' Note
It's been a steep learning curve for me taking over the paper in October 23 and I couldn't have done it without the support of Daryl and Annette. I share their pride in the paper and look forward to continuing their fine traditions. You can always get hold of me at editor@ thefishingpaper.co.nz Thanks Nicola
The annual Battle of the Babes fishing competition at Castlepoint soared to new heights in 2024 with a record number of participants and the weather gods providing 2 great weather days . With over 450 fish weighted in, anglers battled it out for a share of the 410,000 of prizes provided by generous
local sponsors.
President Lorraine Whitcombe expressed delight at the overwhelming turnout, laughs and memories and the fun had by all , noting a great sense of community amongst the participants.
Follow on facebook for 2025 information.
The fishing has been up and down in January and February around Canterbury. Our drone has had connection problems and needed brain surgery a couple of times so drone fishing has been non-existent. We were back to the odd day surfcasting. We found new areas down Mid-Canterbury with some good 4/5ft rigs coming home, to be shared around a few families. They were very tasty.
On a couple of these days, we witnessed multiple shoals of kahawai going past us, big fat ones, pigging out on krill. There are videos of the action appearing on our Facebook page Dronefish.co.nz . Scroll back a couple of months and you can see them.
We had a couple of good days with the boys on the rig and gurnard. We’ve been busy making and selling our flasher hooks and rigs, with our two-hook surfcasting rig selling well. Pink or red seems to do the damage, especially with the krill about. If chasing gurnard, both colours do well with pipi, pilchard, or fresh kahawai going great.
We recently have been given the go ahead to sell the Shark X drone here in Christchurch at $3200. If you are keen to know more about this amazing auto pilot or manual drone with a three-kilo lift, contact me direct through our page or call me on 0225408187.
Another great piece of news arrived on March 13. The new
Aeroo Drone Pro arrived for us to test before it goes on sale. We have done a lot of work on the earlier Aeroo drones and have been rewarded with this early look at the new model. We can’t reveal too much about it as it’s in the Beta stage of development and changes are being made as we speak to enhance this drone even more. The new pro model will sell for around $1600, and we believe it will take a big chunk of that market range. It’s looking a beast on paper and gives you a superior drone compared to the condor drone. Bigger motors, superior wind capabilities, longer flight range, one kilo lift and the amazing camera system 4k, 3
axis camera, video and photos, two batteries to start with and spare props.
We will start flying this once we have read the manual a few times.
Our instruction from Aeroo is give it heaps and test out for us.
We will give a full review of the new to market Aeroo Drone Pro in next month’s paper.
Tight lines, Wayne and Tash
Our expertise extends to outfitting commercial fishing and pleasure boats with features, including haulers, tools, fuel tanks, rocket launchers, Minn Kotas, diving platforms, and much more. We take pride in enhancing your boat's capabilities, making it tailored to your specific needs.
This pair of 5.5 metre aluminium pontoon boats were made for fishing o Wellington’s coast for navigating around the harsh environment.
Extending the GWRC Harbour Masters boat by 2 metres was a challenge. The project required extreme precision, including cutting the boat in half and ensuring it remained perfectly aligned when reassembled. The devil was in the detail as we tackled the challnege of tapering gunwales. A 15mm adjustment might seem minor, bot our commitment to perfection led us to cut and reposition the entire length of the boats'gunwales to maintain a flawless line.
Transforming Sea Shadow a 55ft monohull
We reimagined a luxurious private vessel for a new application with discerning clients in Fiordland. This transformation involved extending the roof to provide shelter, installing essential safety features like fire flaps and fuel shut-o valves, all to meet survey standards. We also crafted a boarding ladder and ramp, enabling seamless onshore access for clients. The roof was reconfigured to accommodate a tender with a crane for e ortless lowering. This extensive overhaul showcased our expertise in adapting a substantial vessel to a new purpose.
• New boat builds
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Fish Mainland welcomes the new Government’s preparedness to challenge what previously might have been considered indisputable.
We acknowledge budgetary constraints placed on Government departments bring disruption, uncertainty and inevitable change and we trust worthwhile decisions will be made so departments transition towards greater accountability and e ectiveness in their roles.
We consider changes are necessary for some departmental roles, given fishing interests seemed to have fallen out of favour under the previous Government; a classic example being the last-minute Ministerial decisions on Southeast Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
We trust the new Government will undo these decisions because of biased defects in the MPA planning process, inaccuracies in MPA boundaries and
resulting loss of the most productive fishing grounds for recreational and commercial fishers alike.
blue cod fishery. The app now includes other fisheries important to recreational fishers, starting with the pāua fishery (PAU3A) in the
Randall Bessprovide valuable data for management and compliance purposes and at a considerably lower cost compared to other recreational data
We appreciate the new Minister of Oceans and Fisheries’ fresh attitude on fisheries issues. We also appreciate him acknowledging Fish Mainland’s collaborative and innovative approach towards managing fisheries, including our development of the Mainland Catch app for recreational fishers to self-report their catch, e ort and location data.
Mainland Catch was first developed for the
Kaikōura region. PAU3A is still recovering and vulnerable to changing environmental conditions, due to the 2016 earthquakes.
Fish Mainland agrees with the Pāua Industry Council and others that Fisheries New Zealand (MPI) should carefully consider how Mainland Catch can be integral to solving ongoing problems in managing the excessive recreational pressure on this fishery.
Mainland Catch can
collection methods.
Datacom has redeveloped Mainland Catch to provide an improved user interface and improved capture and retention of data.
Starting in March, we trialled the app along the Kaikōura coastline. With the aid of several Kaikōura locals, data was recorded from di erent access points the public used during the previous PAU3A openings. At the same time, we trialled the app for various
fisheries at di erent locations across the South Island.
The data collected demonstrate the app’s readiness for use during the PAU3A opening from April 22 – June 21.
The app will be released for recreational fishers to voluntarily selfreport. Their collective data can be used to broadly signal localised trends in abundance, size distribution and availability of species (targeted and bycatch).
A single person can record data for all members of a fishing group. Your personal data is confidential and will not be made public. Data will only be available to the public and MPI in aggregated form such as reporting area and region. The data collected will be stored with the app developer, Datacom’s Nelson o ce.
The benefit for fishers is that better data informs management decision-making, including substantiating the importance of a fishery for recreational use and preferred
fishing grounds, or reducing environment impacts that benefit all sectors.
In other words, Fish Mainland has devised proactive means for recreational fishers to be involved in doing something di erent, which can fortify their position when it comes to important fisheries management decisions; far more importance is placed on data than mere opinions.
We encourage all fishers to do their part in sustaining fisheries by fishing within set limits and using Mainland Catch to record their data.
We encourage you to show your support for Fish Mainland by becoming a member for free and making donations via our website or bank account no 030823-0101056000.
Scan to donate
Have you downloaded the Mainland Catch App?
Howdy folks!
Inspired by my recent bounty on the North Bank of the Rakaia I thought I’d share with you my favourite warm salad recipe using the ever plentiful kahawai,smokey flavours between citrus tang and sweet spice…simple and delicious.
Ingredients
Smoked Kahawai
1kg of golden kumara lightly roasted
1 red onion sliced and charred
4 gherkins roughly chopped
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
Peeled orange,sliced and charred
A handful of micro greens
Char grilled chilli’s
The Original Smoke & Spice Company’s Original Seasoning Chilli jam
Lime juice
Combine ingredients and gently mix with lime juice and mayo,garnish with greens and chilli jam…simple and a real winner!
Enjoy,
Marcus Peters
Int’l Kiwi Chef
Quite good with a gun and rod
I thought I had better introduce myself as you might be seeing a bit of me coming up. I was born and raised in New Zealand and I am totally connected to the outdoors.
I have always had an interest in kitchens and doing justice to the wonderful bounty that I’ve gathered.
The family holiday
Marlborough Sounds was ground zero for my earliest food experiences and had no shortage of the best NZ has to o er.
I started cooking for a living at age 16, beginning as an apprentice chef and this journey has led me to explore every corner of the culinary world.
I now happily run
my company The Original Smoke & Spice Company with my Manuka Smoked Seasonings and more recently Smokin’ Barrels producing Hot & Cold food smokers from upcycled wine barrels.
I am very excited to be a part of The Fishing Paper and Hunting
News and hope to o er you some exciting seasonally appropriate dishes showcasing all the goodies I have fished, hunted or gathered along the way. Feel free to email the paper with any questions or ideas you might have regarding your harvest.
All the best, Marcus
Pete was quite a character. Weather and tide permitting, he could be found on the Kaiapoi Wharf, fishing the river Cam. His obsolete rod seemed appropriate to his age, which was anyone’s guess, but boy, could he catch herrings. Pete and I were fishing friends, although befriending him hadn’t been easy. At first, he rubbished me.
“A girl’s place is cooking fish, not catching them,” he would mumble, just loud enough for me to hear.
Then, leaning back in his derelict canvas chair, his eyes faded from countless years, he watched me bridle.
“A girl has just as much right to go fishing as anyone else!” I told him assertively.
What a nerve. I’d show him, I thought. So, one day, in 1957, when I was 12, I did just that.
Pete and I met as usual on the wharf.
The bleached timber, warped by a century of summers, was all that remained of a once thriving port. The tide was on the turn and within an hour it would bustle with activity of a di erent kind.
Fathers and sons with their expensive fishing
gear would arrive; acknowledge us with a cursory nod, confident they could give us a lesson in fishing. Did they succeed? Never. We knew the Cam, its contours, its mood.
Nearby the town clock struck seven. While the village slumbered we prepared to fish the tide. I watched Pete commence his familiar routine. First, he opened several pipi, placing them on the wharf to harden in the sun before he baited his hooks.
“That will stop the little buggers taking o with my bait,” he said, as he tossed the shells into the river below. This was the moment I had waited for.
Proudly I showed him my jar of preserved bait. The result of swapping an unwanted eel I had caught for pipis with two Maori boys. I had trouble sourcing pipis, so quickly learned the art of trading.
Pete’s weathered hands turned the jar slowly. His eyes squinted as he looked suspiciously at the layers of salt and pipis.
“What on earth are you hoping to catch with this evil looking stu ?” he exclaimed.
“The usual,” I replied, my pride hurt. I baited the hooks
If I had wandered o in Northland earlier in the year I would have been road-blocked by a group of locals claiming ownership and control of the beach, the water and the fish in the water. I am not too surprised by their actions – or again, by the lack of consequences – when I see the Ministry responsible for fisheries routinely handing over the management of large and small tracts of coastline in the North Island to local hapu groups. There is an ever expanding network of what are termed as Section 186 declarations and mātaitai for which the authority to fish and the conditions that apply to fishing are able to be vested in the appointed kaitiaki.
If you read up on this stu I think you will come to appreciate that the
Lynn Rogersand cast mid-stream; confident the salt had hardened my bait every bit as good as Pete’s – if not better. Then, sitting on the edge of the wharf,
leaned forward in his chair and adjusted his battered hat. He was ready for action. With a sharp jerk Pete hooked the first fish. The silver herring
Caught o guard I scrambled to my feet. This time I had hooked a beaut. Pulling the line angrily from the reel the fish made its bid for freedom.
my legs dangling into space, I pondered over his remarks. Pete was old and new ideas weren’t part of his life. I had to make allowances for that. A gentle breeze swayed the willows allowing the sun to filter through. My gloom began to lift. As if intent on spoiling the new dawn, columns of grey smoke mingled with the blue sky as coal ranges were stoked ready for the Sunday roast. Pete’s pipe lay abandoned on the wharf; the herrings were running! He
struggled hopelessly but it had been caught by an expert. Taking it from the hook I placed it in Pete’s bag, hopeful the next one would be mine, but it was not to be. Slowly the tide crept up the wooden piles. Soon our privacy would be invaded. Mesmerised by the flow of the Cam I slipped into a daydream world. I dreamt about the big one. I wondered about the bait, about the waiting homework and about the day when I would fish alone. Suddenly I was shaken from my reverie.
“Jove lass, you’ll have to hold tight to this one,” Pete said, as he came to watch. I had caught some spirited fish before but nothing quite like this one. It rose from the water, writhing on the end of the line, then plunged deep, bending the rod almost in two. Each wind of the reel brought it closer to the wharf. Up out of the water it came. I held my breath as the fish swung momentarily between water and wharf. Only when it flopped safely on to land did I relinquish my grip on the rod.
We stared in disbelief at the fish flapping in the dirt. This was no herring.
“It’s a trout!” Pete shouted excitedly; his eyes riveted to the tell-tale spots partially covering its body.
“Well I never,” he muttered unable to conceal his surprise.
Behind the stop bank a car door slammed. I quickly flung the trout into my bag, the intruders had arrived. Within minutes the wharf buzzed with activity. We watched smugly as reels whirred, casting lines beyond the feeding bed Our peace was shattered but for once I didn’t mind. I glanced across at Pete. He had begun filling his ancient wooden pipe with tobacco from a well-worn leather pouch. The task always intrigued me. He sensed my gaze and looked up as he searched through his pocket for a match.
“You know lass,” he murmured.
“It might be just as well if your big catch remains our secret.”
The respect in his eyes as he winked proudly at me was obvious. Pete and I were fishing friends –I knew exactly what he meant.
applications for these areas arise from a very genuine concern about the state of local fisheries. That big Section 186 area in Taranaki is a good example – the shellfish stocks were being plundered season after season and locals felt powerless to stop the pillaging and illegal sales.
It was so bad that organised paua harvest tourism was operating. The Ministry responsible for fisheries consistently failed to properly monitor and manage the situation – in fact they exacerbated it by tinkering with regulations allowing smaller sized paua to be legally harvested. There was little supervision and policing, no e ort to monitor either the recreational or dubious ‘customary’ catches and the situation just became an embarrassment to them. So what did they do? They handed the problem over to locals. It will be interesting to see if the well-publicised rahui measures are successful
in restoring shellfish abundance along that coast.
Across on the other side of the central north island the declaration of Section 186 areas and prohibitions on taking paua have caused real problems in the adjacent areas. Displaced e ort always finds a new place to dive and fish and piles in on top of whoever is already harvesting. Rapid stock depletion is inevitable. The frustration at not being able to get a daily bag limit fuels the temptation to cheat a bit and keep a feed of unders. And so it rolls – the locals in that adjacent area start chasing the Ministry to implement protection for them.
Everyone living on the coast has an ingrained sense of ownership and a protective and custodial
attitude to fisheries resources and I know from my own experience that residents of small coastal communities strongly resent the seasonal pillaging of ‘their’ fisheries.
For my money the challenge for the Ministry is and always has been to manage fishing and as I have seen written many times, they cannot manage what they do not know. And I am pretty sure they cannot manage fishing by using a random patchwork of area and/or method closures at the discretion of local community groups. But until the Ministry responsible for fisheries really gets to grip with the challenge, I expect that I will see a few more roadblocks and even more criticism of local fishing contests. It's a Pity.
The recreational pāua fishery along the Kaikōura coast is open from 22 April for a limited two-month season.
The fishery was closed for almost five years after the 2016 earthquake which caused significant uplift a ecting the marine life and the coastal environment around Kaikōura and South Marlborough,” says Fisheries New Zealand principal analyst and Kaikōura resident Howard Reid.
“This is the third recreational season since the earthquake and, while it’s good to see the pāua fishery recovering from the severe impacts it faced, this limited season takes a precautionary approach to support its
continued recovery.
Options to reopen the fishery for a 2024 recreational fishing season were publicly
mostly in support of opening the fishery for two months.
“We’ll be closely monitoring the fishery
and what adjustments might be needed for future seasons.”
“The pāua has improved to a level
consulted as part of Fisheries New Zealand’s regular sustainability review for the April fishing year.
“We received feedback from across a range of interests,
during the season and keeping in touch with iwi and the local community on what they’re seeing. This information will help us estimate the level of recreational take,
that can sustain some fishing activity, however it’s important that people follow the rules and take only what they need for a feed so the fishery can continue to provide for
As of 1 April 2024 packhorse rock lobsters must be measured using tail width.
Use the same method for measuring packhorse rock lobster as you use for red or spiny rock lobster. The minimum tail width is di erent for each species.
future generations.
The daily bag limit for the area is three pāua per person from Marfells Beach to the Conway River with the minimum size being 125mm. When gathering over multiple days, there is a maximum accumulation of two daily limits.
“There are some areas in the region that remain closed or have lower bag limits and di erent minimum sizes for pāua. These include a marine reserve, two mātaitai, and two taiāpure.
“People should check the rules before they go out to make sure the area is open and that they know the applicable size and daily bag limits. Only those actually gathering can take a daily limit,
as you cannot take for other people. . Fishery o cers will be patrolling the coast and checking people’s catch during the season to make sure the rules are being followed.”
The limited recreational pāua season will close on 21 June 2024.
The easiest way to keep up to date with the rules is to download the free NZ Fishing Rules App or speak to your local fishery o cer. Do your part to help protect our fisheries by reporting any suspicious fishing activity to 0800 4 POACHER (0800 47 62 24) or poacher@ mpi.govt.nz.
Protect our kaimoana for future generations by checking the rules each time you go fishing or gather seafood. Go to fisheries.govt.nz/rules
My latest couple of fishing trips have been experiments of a sort.
Fishermen like to try things out occasionally, so you might recall a recent Coastlines tale where I had the audacity to head out when it was blowing easterlies. Who goes out in easterlies, for goodness sake?
Ultimately, it was a successful visit to the lake, as the wind eventually eased, the sun shone, and fish were caught. Flushed with that success, I began thinking of another old adage to debunk. Bananas and oranges are supposedly bad luck, so let’s throw caution to the winds and take both along for lunch. It’s all silly superstition, isn’t it, and anyway, what could go wrong? But is there more I could do to tempt fate – ah yes, let’s launch on a Friday. The boat, as always, was ready to go, so “Came a hot Friday,” well, a halfway decent one anyway, a beeline was made for the lake. Lakeside was partly cloudy, with some sun and just a breath of wind, with only one other chap who pulled up as I was launching. We had a yarn and worked out where we wanted to go. Turns out he was a good friend of an old mate of mine –everyone’s connected somehow on the Coast!
The results of Spring were evident everywhere, with paradise sheducks and their young grazing the grass by the ramp and families of black swan with flu y, pale cygnets paddling furiously in an away direction as the marauding silver frog edged closer. Began at what we call
Allan’s (bro-in-law) Corner, then moved on to the two dead trees marking where I used to start fishing with Matey, He of the F Word. There is only one of the trees there now, which seems sadly appropriate. Just past that spot I struck one and promptly lost it
the wind shifted and began to blow me the other way. Time to break for lunch and consider options while munching my salad doorstep, banana and having a drink. Hmm, think I might employ the wind to slowly take me back towards the ramp. In the area
The breath of wind became more of a sustained exhalation, so I worked with it, moving along its path. Usually, the shallows are fish-infested, but this day, they were weed-infested. I thought it unusual to have forested weeds right up to the surface in December. Guess you could blame global climate change!
Damselflies were out and about, some coming on board the boat and even landing on me. Closest I’ve been to a damsel for rather a long time! Between picking weed o the fly, repositioning the boat as it got blown about in the ever-rising wind, getting grounded and enjoying repetitive casting practice, time passed quickly. Then,
I first started in, there was a sudden take, a big splash and then nothing – another strategic mid-lake release. Continued the futility a bit longer, then saw my acquaintance from launching coming back, so we waved across the water at each other; then, when I caught up with him, we had another yarn. We both had similar tales of woe. However, the day at least lived up to the old adage, “The worst days fishing is better than the best days work,” There’s always a bright side, and as for bananas and oranges, I might still take them again next time to check just to be sure….. yeah NAH! Seems you need to be fruitless to be fruitful.
Daryl Sykes provides a brief update on changes recently announced by the Minister of Fisheries.
A new rock lobster fishing year commenced on April 1st and will run through to the end of March 2025.
Commercial operators will be gearing up during April, but the winter catches won’t really start showing in pots until early May in most of the nine management areas around the country and not until June in parts of the Bay of Plenty (CRA 2) and Northland (CRA 1).
The biology and behaviour of lobsters in concert with moon phase, weather and sea conditions all determine catchability. Fishing success is very much down to the skill and experience of the fishermen, including their choice of gear and bait.
When the new fishing year commences, all mature female rock lobsters are usually egg-bearing (berried) and, therefore, cannot be retained and landed. Having finished their breeding season, male lobsters are now preparing to moult. They will feed for several months to store up the energy reserves they require to shelter during moulting and the post-moult period when they are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Commercial fishermen operating in the Autumn/ Winter (AW) season, which runs from April to September inclusive, set gear to avoid catching berried females and are otherwise particularly careful to avoid handling damage if those do come up in pots. Regulations require lobsters to be sorted, measured, and, if necessary, returned to the sea alive as each pot is hauled aboard.
The new fishing year started with a validation for the southern
rock lobster industry (CRA 8), which was allocated a 141-tonne increase in the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for the new season. The recreational allowance was also increased to 39 tonnes.
CRA 8 has been a real success story in terms of fisheries management initiatives and outcomes. It has also been the industry that has driven all the important stock rebuild and maintenance initiatives over several decades. It was interesting to note some of the congratulatory social media commentary (most often critical of commercial fishing generally) about the TACC increase when it was announced by the Minister for Fisheries, the Honourable Shane Jones, late in March. Minister Jones also announced a reduction to the CRA 3 (Mahia/ Gisborne/East Cape) total allowable catch (TAC) and TACC, accompanied by new restrictions that apply to amateur daily bag limits for CRA 3.
One of the most notable aspects of this decision is that the Minister accepted MPI advice to turn down a CRA 3 industry proposal to retire (or ‘shelve’) 30% of the available catching rights (58.5 tonnes) before the 2024/25 fishing year commenced. The Minister opted for a lesser 20% (39 tonnes) TACC reduction. He did, however,
commend the industry proposal – “as such voluntary initiatives can increase the agility of the fisheries system, and demonstrate the industry’s commitment to collective stewardship and acting in the longterm interests of this important shared fishery”.
The Minister’s action was clearly less than the industry itself was prepared to take. In response to his announcement, they then took action to complete a 10% ‘ACE shelving’ before April to ensure the higher commercial catch reduction was in force for the new fishing year.
The changes to the CRA 3 amateur daily bag limit are consistent with those that have been applied in some other lobster fisheries for several years. The Minister reduced the previous recreational allowance (a 4-tonne reduction) alongside a corresponding decrease to the daily bag limit. In his decision letter, he noted that lowering the recreational daily limit from six to three spiny rock lobsters per fisher per day would help ensure that aggregate recreational catch is within the allowance.
The long and the short of Packhorse
One other regulatory change for rock lobster fishing came into force on April 1st, 2024: changing the minimum legal size method for Packhorse (Sagmariasus verreauxi) rock lobster from tail length to tail width, consistent with that for spiny rock lobster. The tail width method of measure is considered less stressful to lobsters and more straightforward for fishers when handling and measuring lobsters.
The new MLS for male Packhorse lobsters is 84mm tail
width (TW) and for females 90mm TW. Standards-approved measuring devices are available from MPI at a cost of $202.75 plus GST, and Fisheries O cers will use these and only these in cases of disputed measurements. Other less expensive devices will no doubt be available for sale in fishing gear and dive shops, but buyers need to check their accuracy before
as reduced catches, massive damage to pots, and, in many cases, significant pot loss because of debris. That damage caused the majority of CRA 3 commercial operators to lose a great deal of fishing time during a period of normally good catches and strong export market demand. When the Poverty Bay to East Cape voluntary commercial closure period commenced in
purchase.
CRA 3 – one crisis after another
The combination of Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle in January and February 2023 caused unprecedented damage across parts of the Gisborne region. The marine environment experienced significant freshwater inflows, increased sedimentation, and input of land-based debris. Anecdotal reports indicated that some commercial fishers experienced significant impacts on their operation, such
seen in New Zealand, with biotoxin levels in CRA 3 lobsters being the highest ever confirmed. As an immediate response to the threat to human health and to avoid reputational damage in export markets, the rock lobster industry Biotoxin Response Plan was invoked, resulting in several large expanses of coastline being closed to commercial rock lobster fishing.
September 2023, the CRA 3 TACC was well undercaught compared to previous years. The commercial operators fishing Gisborne to East Cape prepared to kick o again at the end of the closure period (mid-January) only to become victims of an unprecedented marine biotoxin event.
In November 2023, paralytic shellfish toxin (PST) levels in shellfish exceeded safe limits in a number of areas around the North Island coastline. This event happened at a spatial and temporal scale previously not
One of the worst a ected areas has been CRA 3, with most of the management area from Poverty Bay to East Cape being closed to lobster fishing from mid-November 2023 to early February 2024. So again, in the same fishing year disrupted by massive storm damage, CRA 3 operators were standing on the beach looking out to sea for weeks, and for several, for months, during a period of normally very good lobster fishing and strong market demand in the lead-up to Chinese New Year. As recently as late March 2024, the biotoxin levels in lobsters were still dangerously high in some areas of CRA 3. In line with the industry Biotoxin Response Plan, the coastline from Anaura Bay north to the Waiapu River remained closed to commercial rock lobster fishing.
The biotoxin event has caused and still causes extreme financial stress for the CRA 3 fishing industry. Despite their substantial losses, it really is a testament to their long commitment to careful stewardship and sustainable fishing that well before their disrupted season had ended, they made a binding commitment to voluntarily reduce the 2024/25 commercial catch limit by more than was decided by the Minister of Fisheries.
