October 2024 - Issue 229 - The Fishing Paper and Hunting News
day out for Karen & Ross pg 8
• Crossing the Bar safely page 11
• IPSC Pistol roundup from Bali
• Whitebaiting are swimming
Its o cial, my new dicky knee is not as dicky as it once was, nor is it as dicky as the old dicky knee. Between the guidance of the physio and the doctor I’ve managed to be patient and to put o full blown hunt mode until I am signed-o to resume ‘light’ duties. The body is not yet operating at a 100 percent, it probably never will, but the brain has been red lining in anticipation of an adventure with firearm in hand. My hunter’s intuition, pushed back into a nook somewhere in the cranial depths, is now firmly to the forefront. I’m literally ‘out the gate’ and on my way towards a potentially happy hunting ground.
True, it’s the wrong kinda day, the wrong kinda time, and my hunting attire wouldn’t feature in a Cabela’s glossy catalogue. But there are no rules when it comes to a successful hunt in the spring. All my years of experience are telling me to get out amongst it, right here and right now, so I’m quietly shutting the starter’s gate behind me. I’m racing this time! There’s still snow on the shady side, it re-freezes every night in sub-zero frosts. The shady side at this time of year is dark and silent, devoid of life. All things that can leave already have. They won’t be back till summer, when this southern aspect will provide cool places and green feed during the driest of droughts.
After the snows and the frosts, the sunny side is cool too, but it thaws at midday. The little creeks and seeps in the sunlit gullies thaw first, the trickle of water melting the ice and promoting the first of the new season’s growth. Tiny titbits of bright green are sprouting. Sweet protein packed morsels, which attract herbivores of every description. It’s one of these wee gullies which
Whoa Nelly
Kim Swan
draws me in. Half a kilometre long, walled in by exotic forest, a tiny sliver of heavily cropped native grasses fringed with barberry shrubs. Meandering through this gully is the most meagre of trickles. Subterranean in places, pooling in other places, it flows just fast enough to prevent the freeze and promote life.
The breeze, ever so slight, drifts right to left and slightly in my favour.
My rifle is readied. My body begins its labour of love, every motion slow, minimal and silent. But, while the body may be creeping at snail’s pace, my senses are accepting and assessing all incoming messages at a rapid rate.
Up at the head of the gully a tiny movement catches my eye. Light brown passing through light
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brown.
Stop. Wait. Watch.
A tail flicker. A black and white tail. A fallow deer well hidden in dry rushes, head down, grazing.
Wait. Watch.
A glimpse of antler palmation causes an adrenal slop-over from gland to bloodstream and a dash of hope. Could I be so lucky?
I back track, ease into the cover of the pines, trying to change angles for an unobstructed shot. I manage to skitch 20 metres closer, but the view is worse. Barberry shrubs block my way.
Back-pedal again. Wait. Watch.
A shoulder becomes visible, semi-obscured by rushes. This will have to su ce - at any moment the breeze may swirl, or the little deer might raise his head and see me – I must trust my rifle to deliver its tiny projectile through the rushes and into the buck’s chest cavity. I pick a precise spot on the dull brown coat and ease the trigger backwards. My quarry falls, head tipped out of sight and brightly striped tail flashing back and forward. I watch from afar, rifle ready if need be. I respect the buck’s right to die quickly and in peace, I will not gloat over him in these, his final conscious seconds. Besides, I’m almost afraid to get a second look
at the antlers atop that gorgeous head. Are they as good as I thought they were?
The buck passes quickly, never knowing what had happened. His headgear is great, as is his condition score. He is a gift and a fabulous ‘welcome back’ after a month of inactivity.
After photos and preparation, it’s time to hack a track. I unfurl my swivel-centred piggin’ string and cast a loop about the buck’s coronets. Then, resembling a welltrained, grey Clydesdale mare, (including shaggy legs and hairfringed chin), I reverse into the load before taking up the slack. Weight evenly distributed, shoulders hunched, I heave my prize up onto level ground and then begin the haul out – just half a kilometre to go - yeehaw.
Whoa Nelly, steady-on old gal, no need to stampede!
‘Light’ duties have never felt so good. The lungs getting a thorough through flow of oxygen, the muscles getting a thorough stretch. The dicky knee holding up to the strain with minimal complaint. It’s almost over too soon, this wrong kinda day at this wrong kinda time, but I’ll take it, with both gratitude and appreciation.
Brian Bishop
Australasia IPSC Handgun and PCC Championships
These were held in Bali in late August, and New Zealand had a team of shooters and three range o cers (RO) who travelled to it. This is a level four-match; the worlds are level five, so in short, it is the most significant type of match in this part of the world, The event was held over three days, while the Pistol was over four and started a day later. Twenty-four di erent courses of fire, from small courses up to twelve, mediumtwelve to twenty-four and large as high as thirty-two. While it has been held every three years, it is moving to a four-year cycle.
PCC (Pistol Calibre Carbine) were hired as we aren’t allowed them, which put our teams at a big disadvantage because it’s tough to compete with hired gear even when it works well, and unfortunately, these did not.
There was a change in how we competed each day, usually done in half days. This time, the days were split into four, and we covered six stages in three hours.
There were eight people in my squad, which comprised two teams of four. You might have thought we
had it easy, looking at the young Thailand team we were slotted with, until the first shots. Unlike NZ, shooting is acceptable, and juniors celebrated, so while they were young (I’m older than three of them added together), they had been shooting for years, and it showed. It was no surprise that they won 1st Open Team. While the days were short, a lot of shooting was done in quick succession. Whilst good for me, it meant a lot of work with little rest for the RO and range sta . They had long, hot days with little downtime, and my thanks go out to them for this, as it is not easy.
The stages were very challenging and varied, making IPSC such a unique sport. That and how everyone competes, no di erence between ages or sex; eighty-five ladies and forty-three juniors competed. We have di erent categories, but stages and points are the same. By doing it this way, we are very inclusive, and skills are what matter.
The top in the Open was Brodie McIntosh, a senior (50 -60) from Aussie. We had a number of seniors in our teams this trip; for us, it is a
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bit of a trend as our average age is getting older; this is probably down to several reasons; costs and licencing requirements are just two.
Our members did well, but for me the heat always gets me. I like it cold, and Bali isn’t that. Sweaty hands mean you can’t grip the gun the same way, so we use a pro grip or cork to try and combat this, much the same as climbers do. The other thing is keeping the gun going: getting the oil right. Too dry, and the gun stops working; too much, and the sights get covered, making the aim harder.
Our best placings came in the age groups Ramel 3rd Classic, Andre 3rd Production Optics, Jim 4th Standard all Seniors and Victora 1st Production Ladies Super Senior. After a rough start, I finished well, but the points lost can’t be recovered. I placed 17th Senior in the Open, which I was happy with. The old ‘Must Do Better’ comes to mind.
My thanks to Tactical Solutions for supporting the Nelson crew. The Rush24 backpacks and 5.11 pants were suitable and helpful.
Brian Bishop
Crossing the Bar
In 1889 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, penned ‘Crossing the Bar,’ oft recited at many a seafarer’s funeral or quoted in their obituaries.
Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark;
For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
While it is a metaphor, an acknowledgement for having passed away, a gentle crossing of the bar from the safety of harbour and out into the wide blue yonder, the irony cannot be lost. I have no idea how many people, sailors, fishermen, passengers have died when their ship has foundered over the centuries since ships first began navigating our coastline, but according to ‘Uncle Google,’ 153 people have drowned in barcrossing incidents since 1980.
In August this year, three people died when their vessel capsized crossing the Riverton bar. Two weeks later, a life was lost on the Catlins River bar near New Haven.
“Ours is the most dangerous bar in the whole country, perhaps even the world.”
Often heard over an ale or two as if by crossing that bar adds extra kudos to their seafaring prowess. A green as grass deckie and about to experience my first bar way back last century, the Skipper, a well-regarded West Coast fisherman said to me, “there are only two types of bars, son.
“The dangerous bastards, and the really dangerous f__kers.”
Glassy calm, a slight heave, a set pushing us across the Tipheads, I was told to watch out aft and keep
Chris Carey
my eye peeled for any curly ones coming in. It was all quiet on the Western Front until my shouted expletive alerted the Old Man.
One slab-sided greenie had reared from nowhere and now we were surfing, broaching wildly, going sideways towards the rocks. The Skipper had wrung the neck of that old Niigata, black smoke pouring from the stack. Laid over on her beam ends, I was standing with both feet on the lee rail of the Monkey Island convinced she wasn’t coming back, tossing up whether to stay or step o onto the rocks, because from where I was, they looked close enough.
The David Baker clawed her way past the south Tip Head, got hit again and we went through sideways between the Tip Heads before the Skipper could get her head around and we surfed gracefully into the river.
Not much was said when we passed lines up and made her fast. Roy was as white as a hospital sheet. A couple of the boys were standing there, quietly sucking on fags, and me, my gut was telling me we really had dodged a bullet. Our period of quiet contemplation was broken when a bloke approached with a camera in hand.
“Awesome shots, guys!
“Fantastic. Thanks.”
We all stared at him.
“Lost 20 bucks though, huh.
“Thought you were a goner.”
I can’t recall who whacked him but I’m pretty sure he was still lying there as we wandered up Gresson Street to the Gilmer.
I believe the North Island has more bar crossings, the frigid conditions and rough waters of the mainland often mean when things went wrong, they can go very wrong.
So, what is a bar?
It is an elevated area of sediment, usually sand or gravel, that has been deposited by the outward flow of water. Mid-channel or braid bars are common in braided rivers. Point bars are more common in meandering rivers, and of course, the elephant in the room, mouth bars where a river empties into the sea.
Bars are ever changing, growing, eroding, moving and changing shape and no two days are the same, often as quickly as sixhourly with every turn of the tide. The location, size, shape and available depth of water over
a bar depends on the volume and velocity of the outward flow of water, the volume and type of sediment being carried, and how far it can be carried before it settles out.
Onshore weather conditions, tidal ranges, coastal currents or sets, wind and sea states pushing against the outward flow of water also influence on where, and how much of the sediment load is deposited.
If you’ve never crossed one or have limited experience as I do, what is it you don’t do? I spoke to Allan Rooney, a commercial fisherman with a great deal of experience working both the Westport and Grey River bars.
whatever reason I’m a bit wary, I’ll ring someone in town and they will go and have a look for me, if they say hang to high tide, well I’ll hang out till high tide.”
The amount of rainfall in the catchment, the moon phase and height of tide, onshore weather conditions, tidal sets around the mouth of the river or harbour, all play a part in shaping the bar, or bars, and the conditions over them.
“Most of the set down this coast is from the south to the north, hence why you have Farewell Spit, the sand being pushed up the coast and around to form the spit,” said Allan,
“I won’t go out over the bar without looking at it Chris, because it can change between dinner time and tea time, only a few hours I know but it can be a whole di erent ball game,” he said.
“If I’m not sure, or for
“So, when we talk about pristine bottoms, it’s a heaving, moving mass but 12 to 24 hours before a front leaves Aussie, the sea will go flat, and it’ll turn and run to the south.
“So, when you’re coming in, in shit conditions, the set is from the north.
Crossing the Bar
“We’d not had a lot of rain to flush out the river.
“Normally the bar is a pinnacle, you know, up and down but I was coming in the other day about 40 minutes before high tide and it come up and was a flat for a good 80 to 100 metres in there between the tip heads, you know.
“That’s how much rain, or the lack thereof, can a ect it.”
What do you look for in wave patterns before you decide to cross?
“Normally they come through in sets of three and five, mostly threes,” explained Allan.
“I’ll sit about a mile o and l time them coming through.
“It might be five or seven minutes.
“I know how long it’ll take to do a mile at eight knots when I take o , so I’ll creep in to half a mile o and let the bigger ones go through than give her heaps and ride the last one in.”
So, what do you make of these rec boaties heading out to chase bluefin?
“Over enthusiastic would be my opinion of that behaviour,” said Allan.
“Education before drowning, mate, it’s as simple as that".
“My advice to them is just don’t jump in your boat and take o , go and have a look at the bar.
“My other advice is having a VHF radio as well as your cell phone, in a bag in case it gets wet, proper life jackets that’ll keep your afloat and upright, an EPIR or at least a PLB, flares and get in touch with someone before you go and tell them when you’re due back.”
Allan will often ‘make himself known’ to those in the Blacktown lagoon, o ering his advice freely for those willing to listen.
“So, you’re going out for bluefin?” he’ll ask.
“Yep.”
“Well, its easterly 25 so I wouldn’t be going anywhere near that Trench son if I were you,” Allan will tell them.
“Why?”
“Because it funnels out of the Grey Valley, and it’ll be nasty out there, anything over 15 knots,
cont Chris Carey
stay on your trailer because the weather can change that quick out there,” he’ll say.
If you do get caught out there, Allan’s advice is not to try and make Greymouth but make a bee line for Hokitika and at about two mile o , turn northwards and run along the beach to Greymouth.
“It’ll be a far better ride and if it’s a dirty south westerly and you get caught out there and if you’re carrying enough fuel, then head to Cape Foulwind,” he said.
“You can anchor just around the cape or go into Westport.
“If it’s got anything to do with a west or northerly in it, then you can forget about Westport and when you’re coming in unless the sea is dead flat, I wouldn’t be looking at anything under half tide.
“I still won’t go in at low tide even if its flat calm, unless it’s an emergency, so, half tide on, and unless its flat, full tide.
“Brian Piner told me a long time ago, if there’s a breaking sea on a bar and its more than one and a half times the beam of your boat, and you are side on, you’re pretty much f__ked!
“Most of us commercial guys are only too happy to help if someone wants to go out for a play".
“They’ve just got to ask, that’s all.”
Remember the old chestnut?
There are bold fishermen and old fishermen, but never an old, bold fishermen. There is no such thing as an expert on a bar, but there are many with a heap of experience willing to o er advice. All you must do is ask.
There are many forums where boaties can ask for advice.
Chris Carey
To summarize, never take it for granted.
• Check you and your crew are fit to go to sea and that you, your crew and your boat have all the appropriate LSA, fuel, parts for the trip.
• Always wear lifejackets. Common-sense stu I know, but common-sense is a rare commodity these days. The two chaps picked up out of the water recently when their boat became tangled in a pelagic trawl o Hokitika weren’t wearing any.
• Take two forms of communication, one of which should be a VHF with Dual Watch capability, a personal
locator beacon, or a mobile phone in a waterproof pouch.
• Check the weather. If it looks suspect, or likely to change while you’re out, or some grizzled old fishermen along the wharf advises against it, don’t go.
• Have a look at the bar.
• Look for the areas where the water is deeper, and the seas aren’t breaking or breaking as bad.
• Avoid crossing at low tide, high tide preferably.
• Knowing your capabilities, which includes your boat. If you’re thinking, can I or can’t I, then put it back on the trailer.
0800 080 725
www.talleysdeepseacareer.co.nz
It’s more than just a 9 to 5 job, a deep sea career with us sets you up with skills for life that’ll take you anywhere in the world.
preparing fish for our international customers.
Choose your career path –factory management, deck crew, engineering, an o cer, and ultimately a skipper if you want. And that’s just at sea. After your sea training the career opportunities with Talley’s are as wide as the horizon. Bar crossing safety, A great video from Coastguard New Zealand | Coastguard Tautiaki Moana
The adventure begins after onshore training, when you get your first chance to go to sea working on one of the largest deepsea fleets in the country. All new crew begin on the factory deck doing a variety of jobs
Crossing the bar Maritime NZ OUT ON THE SOUTHERN OCEAN IT’S PART JOB, PART JOURNEY.
Innovation and Opportunity
Rock lobster industry commentator Daryl Sykes provides the second of a series of articles exploring the development and growth of the industry.
In the first article of this series we tracked just some of the administrative and technological developments that marked the growth and consolidation of the New Zealand rock lobster industry from the 1940s through to the late 1980s. The industry has a history of innovation across the complete value chain, from the water to the consumer, but the New Zealand rock lobster fisheries are also notable for innovation in research and management approaches.
For this article we are going to kick o with what was a revolution in fisheries management – the Quota Management System or QMS – introduced for rock lobsters in April 1990.
In 1983, a precursor to the QMS was implemented to control seven deepwater fish stocks. At the time, the deepwater fisheries stocks were relatively healthy and this system was implemented to prevent over fishing or overcapitalisation from occurring as it had in the inshore finfish stocks. To be eligible for the individual quota (IQ), companies needed to prove that they had the ability to access the fishery but also that they had the processing investments necessary to process catch. The quota allocated under this scheme was granted for ten years. However, in 1985 the allocations were confirmed by the Government and granted in perpetuity thus bringing the deepwater species into the QMS. Having secured the deepwater, the Government sought to extend the QMS across all inshore fisheries.
The Ministry of Fisheries of the day had planned on commencing with the lobster fisheries, thinking that it should be less complicated and less contentious than the multi species/multi method finfish sector. The lobster industry, represented at the time by the NZ Federation of Commercial Fishermen, was not a willing participant. The opposition was strong and the Ministry made little headway in ‘selling’ the QMS to that sector and set aside their initiative in favour of bringing inshore finfish into the QMS.
It was never going to be an easy task even though the majority of inshore fishermen had already publicly conceded that there were ‘too many fishermen chasing too few fish’. The Ministry made various concessions to the finfish industry which in hindsight were probably unwise and definitely led to some inequities in quota allocations and species mixes when the QMS commenced in October 1986.
Lobster industry participants
were closely observing the finfish quota allocations and when they finally accepted the inevitability of following finfish into the QMS, industry representatives went looking for the deal that best suited their fisheries and the fishing families who derived their livelihoods from them.
excess of their most recent catch histories and others having TACCs much lower than recent histories. With support and investment from the science unit of the NZ Fishing Industry Board (FIB) the lobster industry continued to press for nine separate TACCs to be set and reviewed annually. That approach
By way of advocacy and negotiation the lobster industry restricted the use of notional catch histories and ensured that there would be no explosion of vessel numbers across the nine rock lobster fishery areas. When rock lobster was introduced to the QMS, both the criteria and the appeal process used during the finfish quota allocations were tightened up. The rock lobster appeals were relatively uncontroversial and were disposed of very quickly.
Industry successfully argued for potting to be the only permissible commercial harvest method and was also partially successful in constraining what was known as ‘multiple use of permits’. On April 1st 1990 the lobster fisheries were in the QMS and all commercial participants were working to defined catch limits. That change took a bit of getting used to, especially when there was a strong feeling across the industry that the Total Allowable Commercial Catches (TACCs) set for each of the nine management areas were wrong.
The Ministry TACC setting policy in 1990 resulted in some management areas having initial TACCs well in
has been the standard since the mid to late 1990s.
There were some interesting threads of innovation through that first decade of the lobster QMS. The most important of which are those which had long term consequences, for example, the innovations in stock assessment science, fisheries data collection and modelling which are still being carefully refined and updated in a truly cooperative e ort between the industry and science providers working under contract to the Ministry.
But underlying that cooperative e ort back in the early 1990s was the willingness of the rock lobster industry at large to take on the co-management opportunities presented by the QMS.
The QMS was and still is a rightsbased system with underlying incentives for rights-holders to act cooperatively and collectively to protect and enhance the stocks in which they own a share of the available harvesting rights. The buzzwords at the time were stewardship and custodial attitude.
The rock lobster industry was reasonably well organised before
the QMS but by 1994 had become a stand-alone commercial stakeholder organisation with its own negotiated funding base and a strong regional representative structure built on the ownership of quota shares and catching rights. The lobster industry became very pro-active in taking up opportunities to participate in the research and management of their fisheries.
Under the umbrella of the NZ Rock Lobster Industry Council (NZ RLIC) the industry initiated collaborations with the Fishing Industry Board, the Ministry of Fisheries and with research providers. Industry invested in new technologies – the vessel logbook programmes, supplementary tag and release projects, digital data collection, a fishery accreditation system, and direct contracting of stock assessment expertise were well underway from the late 1990s onwards. Support and encouragement was forthcoming from various Ministers and from the Ministry itself – everyone was keen to see the QMS realise its full potential.
The lobster industry very quickly recognised the benefits of TACCs being catch limits rather than targets and in response to observed stock declines variously in CRA 8, CRA 3 and CRA 4 during the 1990s and early 2000s the respective industry groups gave expression to the anticipated notions of stewardship by agreeing and
implementing several significant voluntary reductions to commercial catch limits, and/or prompted the development of formal ‘decision rules’ to guide annual TACC setting. These have been refined and regularly updated to form the basis of advice presented to Ministers each year to guide their sustainability decision making.
Unfortunately a succession of departmental reforms and a progressive loss of institutional knowledge within the Ministry of Fisheries coupled with a perceived weakening of the stewardship ethos across the fishing industry stifled further heralded development of once ‘cooperative user group management’ and moved the system back towards a Ministry command and control situation. In spite of that shift, the industry has continued to make its own investments in science and management and to promote timely, equitable and pragmatic decision making.
Back out on the water and inside the regional processing and export facilities, in the first decades of the QMS industry was also being very proactive. Working to a quota limit and maintaining a reputation for delivering premium live seafood to discerning Asian markets meant that product quality, catching e ciency, and sound business
Innovation and Opportunity - cont
planning were necessary requisites for the catching and export sectors. Individually and collectively on a regional basis the industry invested in harvesting and processing technologies and operational codes of practice.
The national biotoxin management plan for rock lobsters had its origins in the Canterbury/Marlborough (CRA5) lobster fishery where industry awareness of the e ects of biotoxins on nearby aquaculture producers prompted independent testing and development of operational responses to biotoxin events. These have since been expanded and are well established across all nine lobster fisheries management areas.
The increased reliance on the use of holding pots to take advantage of peak price periods in the export
market or as a response to transportation delays or lack of airfreight capacity prompted the Southern rock lobster industry to commission research and scientific advice in relation to catch handling and longer term storage of lobsters. Fishermen refined onboard handling protocols and redesigned holding pots to ensure very minimal handling and predation damage. In pursuit of quality, and mindful of the increased public awareness and concern in relation to animal welfare, industry
at large implemented grading and packaging standards. Export companies carried these through to the market in various collaborations with freight forwarding and airline companies. Markets acknowledge these initiatives by their willingness to have the highest prices for New Zealand rock lobsters. In the next instalment –unravelling species DNA, opening the door to trans-Tasman industry cooperation and here in New Zealand the initiatives made to protect and enhance spatial access and rock lobster fisheries utilisation opportunities – plus some of the stu that didn’t work.
September snapper
Karen and I have had a new Yamaha F350 motor and Helm master installed on our boat so we were keen as to try it out. So, on Tuesday we both checked the next day’s weather on the Windy and the YR apps, both of which indicated that Wednesday would be ok for a trial trip down the bay. Fortunately, whatever the tide was doing was not a concern for us to launch at Port Motueka as we are familiar with the channel depth and can come and go on any tide.
After our lunch and thermos was sorted, Karen made sure it actually made it on to the boat along with some secret bait and one of our home made 5kg burley bombs. We eagerly headed o .
At the leisurely time of twenty to eight, we launched at Port Motueka and did a quick check over to make sure all was in order before we steamed out to the Tasman. As the sea conditions were very favourable with a slight southerly helping us along, just twenty minutes later we were passing Torrent Bay. Within
Ross Satherley
the next 30 or so minutes we had arrived at our intended fishing spot only to find that someone else was already there.
After a few circuits of tracking down some of the indicators that there was a possibility of fish down below, the anchor was dropped, the berley bomb put into its cage, made secure and also dispensed with.
Keeping a close eye on the sounder you could see it heading for the bottom. Once there, 10 winds up on the drum handle lifted the bomb about 2 x meters o the bottom and you could see the berley trail running from it. Within 10 – 15 minutes, fish were present in the trail vicinity.
The first fish caught was a spikey dog, no surprises there. Both of us were thinking this is not going to be a good day for us. Then I caught a nice gurnard, then another and then a Kahawai. The sun was shining and the tide was changing so the sea calmed down. On a bit of a roll, figuratively speaking, we added several gurnard to the cache.
TEST DRIVE TIME!
Finally one of the rods took o with something much larger on it. A few minutes later we lifted on board a 75 cm Snapper. Happy with our catch so far, it was well time for a tea break of sandwiches and cake. Then we went back to fishing once more.
Although very early in the season, we still managed two more nice snaps and a double hook up of gurnard. With more than enough in the bin, we decided the time had come to head back to port.
With the spring winds being
somewhat unpredicatable, better to leave a little early than a bit late if we want to travel in comfort.
On our way back, we just thought how lucky we are to live here in Tasman.
Jump online and see what the Dawnbreakers Fishing Club is doing .
Snapper catch limits up, orange roughy down
Catch limits for several fisheries will be increased following a review that shows stocks of those species are healthy and abundant.
The changes are being made as part of Fisheries New Zealand’s biannual sustainability review, which considers catch limits and management settings across New Zealand’s fisheries.
“Scientific evidence and information about our snapper stocks tells us these fisheries are thriving and abundant,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says.
“More of the fish can be sustainably harvested, which is why recreational allowances and commercial catch limits for some snapper stocks will be increased.
“Making the most of these abundant fisheries benefits those who make a living from our fisheries, and the economy,” Mr Jones says.
Other changes include increases in the recreational and commercial take in the Kaikōura pāua fishery, but also an increase in the minimum size.
“The pāua in this fishery continues to become healthier, following its devastation in the Kaikōura earthquakes.
“To make sure this fishery continues to do well by protecting more spawning pāua, I have increased the minimum size for pāua there from 125mm to 130mm.”
While some fisheries are doing
well, others require reduced catch limits.
“A recent assessment of the Challenger Plateau orange roughy stock (ORH 7A) has suggested current harvest is no longer sustainable so the commercial catch limit has been cut".
“Commercial catch limits and allowances for the Southland blue cod stock (BCO 5) have also been reduced. Blue cod is a popular fish for New Zealanders, and these reductions will help ensure this fishery is sustainable and can be enjoyed in future,” Mr Jones says.
Decisions are based on the best available scientific information about the stocks, as well as input from iwi and public feedback.
"I'd like to acknowledge everyone who provided feedback on the proposals. Submissions from tangata whenua, recreational and commercial fishers, environmental groups, and the public play an important part in the advice I receive and the decisions made,”
Mr Jones says.
Head to the Fisheries New Zealand’s website for more information.
Selling recreationally caught seafood, taking too many cockles, undersize pāua, set netting in prohibited areas, earn fishers thousands of dollars in fines Recreational fishers have paid the price for not following the fishing rules, to the tune of thousands of dollars in fines, along with community work, over the past month before the courts.
“There are consequences for failing to follow fishery rules and for some people, it will hurt their wallet. Our job is to protect fishing resources so that everyone can enjoy the opportunity to put fresh kaimoana on the dinner the table,” says Fisheries New Zealand Director of Fisheries Compliance, Steve Ham.
A 52-year-old Wellington man was fined $3,900 in Wellington District Court for harvesting and selling recreationally caught kina. The man had been under investigation and was found to have made 21 sales of kina between November 2021 and April 2022. Each of the 73 bins contained between 10 and 15 kina and the man earned about $2,920.
A 71-year-old Auckland man was fined $750 in the North Shore District Court for taking 178 cockles from Okoromai Bay in Whangaparaoa in April this year. The daily limit per person in this area is 50 cockles and the man was stopped by a fishery o cer on patrol.
A 37-year-old Auckland man has been ordered to do 100 hours community work by the North Shore District Court for selling recreationally caught seafood between January and October 2022. The man sold about 4 crayfish, 5 kilograms of pāua, about 7 sea urchin and 2 crabs.
Two Wellington men aged 62 and 68 have each been fined $600 in the Hutt Valley District Court for taking 2,853 cockles near the mouth of the Hutt River at Petone. The men had their catch inspected by Fishery O cers in November last year. The daily limit per person in this area is 150 cockles per person. One of the defendants was using a rake to gather the shellfish into buckets.
A 50-year-old Masterton man has been ordered by the Hutt Valley District Court to do 60 hours community work for taking 43 pāua –12 of them being undersize.
If you’re unsure of the fishing rules in the area you plan to fish – get the most up to date fishing rules by downloading the free NZ Fishing Rules mobile app. It will also work if you’re fishing in an area with limited mobile coverage.
Living every day under a modus operandi to ‘get fishers back out fishing, fast’, while reducing as much waste as possible, makes Josh Donker a happy man.
Josh is the general manager of Motueka Nets, a fishing-net making and mending business started by his grandfather in 1988. He took over the role from his father with the blessing of his two brothers who, like Josh, had grown up with the business – built at Port Motueka and later relocated to Port Nelson. Josh clocked-on at Motueka Nets at age 16, learning the ropes and business skills before leaving to train and work in IT.
Although he was doing well in his IT career, Josh didn’t hesitate to climb back aboard when his retiring father o ered him the helm at Motueka Nets, seeing room to improve on the successful business model.
Improvements aside, the model is still very much to get nets –repaired, modified and more – back to fishers as quickly as possible. This is done without compromising quality in the craft of rigging, knot tying, mending and mesh construction.
To this requirement, Josh has prioritised re-using and recycling as much of an expired trawl net as possible. His success is evident in the near-empty rubbish skip bins, compared to stacked pallets of
Motueka Nets - People and
materials ready for re-use.
There isn’t much of a trawl net that Josh hasn’t figured out how to keep out of landfill.
In collaboration with Sealord, Motueka Nets now dismantles and recycles entire trawl nets. Metal hardware and chains are recycled in Nelson, polyethylene rope is given away to gardeners and farmers, and nylon netting is shipped in 26-tonne loads to Spain, where it is made into mussel farm ropes and other products. 52 tonnes of trawl net was saved from landfill in one year this way.
Only the nets’ polyethylene mesh was left over, but by early 2024 Josh had found a solution. Or rather, the solution came to him.
Motueka Nets’ sustainability e orts had caught the eye of Rui Peng, CEO of Auckland-based
technology startup Critical. Rui especially liked the look of the bright blue and green polyethylene mesh, which Critical now upcycles into a successful range of Kingi chopping boards and o ce furnishing such as benchtops in those same bright colours.
The journey of the polyethylene mesh, nylon rope and other supplies
from their manufacture in Holland to New Zealand is an interesting story as well. Motueka Nets is an MPI-certified transition zone, which means shipping containers from Holland can be opened onsite in its vast yard, following biosecurity procedures.
Shipping has not been straightforward in 2024, with container ships taking the longer route around Africa rather through the Suez Canal, due to terrorist attacks on ships in the Red Sea. For Motueka Nets, this means containers can be delayed by as much as a month, with a flow-on e ect to production schedules –and their core mission to get gear back to fishers as soon as possible.
This year, Josh took his first business trip to meet suppliers in Holland. Shipping delays were on the agenda and Josh also enjoyed seeing a little of the country his grandfather grew up in. It was a new experience for him, as the third generation to lead the family business into its fourth decade.
See our website for the full range
Josh demonstrates net-making techniques at Seafood Saturday in Nelson, March 2024.
Photo by Tim Cu .
Fish Mainland’s passion for ‘making things happen’ led to our stall at the Outdoor Expo being very busy with recreational fisher enquiries. Our new ideas on display included the Mainland Catch app, Scallop Pot, Dingle Dangle and Eco Bait!
Our goods on display
First, there was our Mainland Catch app for fishers to self-report their catch, e ort and location data. Our website has links to download the Mainland Catch app and videos on how easy it is to use: www. fishmainland.nz
The scallop pot attracted a lot of attention, supported by a video of the pot catching scallops, which demonstrated that it works while causing far less damage than dredging to the environment.
The Dingle Dangle would assist in the management of several South Island areas, like the Marlborough Sounds. Its primary benefit is that it clips the bait below the hook, which allows small sized fish to nibble the bait but not get hooked. The
'Tight Lines' at the Christchurch Expo
Randall Bess
bigger fish can take the bait and get hooked in the corner of the mouth.
This device eliminates the waste caused by hooking small sized fish, provided fishers are prepared to use it to assist in fish stock recovery, like blue cod.
Ecobaits are New Zealand-made, eco-friendly bait products that stay on a fishhook longer than other baits, enabling more fish to be caught more cheaply. The product range includes non-plastic, biodegradable soft bait, a super attractant, non-frozen burley mix, and easy-to-use ‘fish lollies.’
What better way to celebrate the coming of summer than the marriage of crispy whitebait atop new seasons asparagus, a free range poached egg, hollandaise and a potato rosti.
Crispy Whitebait - Floured and seasoned with 'Original Seasoning' shallow fried in olive oil.
Potato Rosti - Grated Agria seasoned and fried in hot pan.
Overall, very positive reactions from all
We ‘spread the word’ about Fish Mainland in every way we could during the two-day Expo! The app alone ‘reeled in’ 385 Expo attendees to our Fish Mainland Database!
There were several attendees who took our Mainland Catch app leaflet, but did not provide their contact details. And many attendees were impressed that we promote more environmentally friendly harvesting methods.
For the two-day Expo, there were only four negative reactions by attendees – a person from Kaikoura and three North Islanders.
We had various ‘giveaways’Roses Chocolates, Paua Knives, Fish Species Posters, Measure Your Catch bands, Fishing Paper & Hunting News, Junior Fishery O cer badges and Fisheries NZ information booklets/leaflets.
We also helped Canterbury Sport Fishing Club, in handing out their new club information leaflet to interested Canterbury Fishers.
We had ‘Tindale Marine Research Charitable Trust’ posters and various supportive South Island Club posters displayed at our site!
Both days of the Expo we held ra es for free cases of Tohu Wines, BBQ aprons and Wine Coolers. The ra e winners were:
Day One: Jason Ward of Christchurch. Drawn by the Outdoor Expo organiser; Marc Featherstone.
Day Two: Mark O’Loughlin of Christchurch. Drawn by Fishing News reporter/ professional forager; Peter Langlands. We ‘topped o ’ the two-day Expo with $275 given in donations.
Please show your support for Fish Mainland by becoming a member for free and making donations via our website or bank account no 030823-0101056-000.
Asparagus - oiled, seasoned and blasted in air fryer for 5 minutes.
Poached Egg - remember to add vinegar to the water. Hollandaise Sauce - Homemade or store bought.
Arrange ingredients and top with a snowstorm of finely grated parmesan - 'Simply the best'….. Tina Turner named a song after it !
Making the most of the 2024 whitebaiting season
Many whitebaiters will be out there enjoying the 2024 whitebait season. There’s nothing like getting away from it all, relaxing in nature with some mates, and catching enough ‘white-gold’ for a few fritters. Being well prepared will help make whitebaiters’ experience even more enjoyable. What are whitebait and what’s special about them?
Whitebait are the young (juveniles) of six freshwater fish species only found in New Zealand - īnanga, kōaro, smelt, and shortjaw, banded, and giant kōkopu. Whitebait adults live in freshwater and lay their eggs on riverbanks. Larvae emerge from the eggs and float out to sea, swimming upstream about six months later as whitebait. The juvenile whitebait that aren’t caught will travel further upstream, grow into adults and start their life cycle all over again.
2. Know how to keep safe near and in water, and
3. Help protect the environment by stopping pests invading freshwater habitats.
Whitebaiting by the rules
Changes to the Whitebait Fishing Regulations were phased in from 2021-23. The new regulations support a sustainable, more equitable whitebait fishery and included changes to the season length, and gear sizes and placement.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is responsible for managing the whitebait fishery, so you’ll see DOC rangers on the riverbank between 1 September to 30 October.
Keeping safe
Whitebaiting is a great way to enjoy New Zealand’s outdoor environment. However, fishing
Here are three steps to make the most of the whitebait season,
1. Understand the rules around whitebaiting,
can be dangerous. Between 20192023 four people drowned while whitebaiting. These preventable deaths occurred in the South and North Islands. None of the
Helen Ough Dealy, PhD
victims were wearing lifejackets. You can avoid becoming a drowning statistic by following the Water Safety Code’s four simple rules:
1. Be prepared e.g., know the weather and water conditions before setting o
2. Watch out for yourself and others
3. Be aware of the dangers e.g., understand the area you are fishing in
4. Know your limits e.g., learn safe ways of rescuing others without putting yourself in danger You can also keep yourself safer by following these whitebaitingspecific safety tips.
• Don’t fish from wet rocks – it means waves are likely washing over them.
• Wear a life jacket and wader belt.
• Have two waterproof communication devices on you at all times, such as a mobile phone in a waterproof bag and a VHF radio or a distress beacon.
• Never go fishing on your own, fish with a mate who knows the area. Share your plans and
expected time of return with a trusted person. Ask them to look for you at your expected location and call 111 if you don’t return.
Protecting the environment
New Zealand’s lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands are under threat from invasive freshwater pests such as gold clam in the North Island, and didymo (rock snot) in the South Island. These pests can smother waterbody beds where whitebait, live, and clog fishing nets, water supply filters.
Gold clam die-o s can cause algal blooms increasing the risk of botulism, a potential killer of dogs and humans. In Ireland, invasive gold clams formed beds up to 15 cm deep that extended for hundreds of square metres.
You can help protect New Zealand’s whitebait fishery by not spreading these pests. Whenever moving between waterways, check, clean, and dry all fishing gear, waders and boats that come into contact with water. In the North Island you will need to follow the clam-specific Check Clean Dry requirements.
So, to get the most out of the whitebait season,
1. Stick to the rules,
2. Keep yourself safe near the water, and
3. Look after the freshwater environment.
More information is available on the DOC website www.doc.govt.nz/ whitebaiting. Need to know more? Email whitebait@doc.govt.nz.
Whitebait, probably īnanga (Galaxias maculatus), from Te Oka Stream on Banks Peninsula. Photo by Angus McIntosh, Uni of Canterbury.
A beautiful and very orderly day on the Waikanae River – everything as it should be. Photo by Tony Milner, DOC
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Lady Ash adventure Shane McKay
Friday after work we decided the waning easterly and slight winds forecast for the days ahead meant we could head o down to Stephens Island for a fish, overnighting in Port Hardy.
Eight onboard the Lady Ash, we stopped along the way at the Marks, catching snapper, cod and one kingfish near Otu Bay.
We fished outside Port Hardy for the evening without much exciting happening except for cod, a couple of tarakihi and gurnard. We set anchor opposite Castle Head and put the barbecue to work cooking anything meat based.
The anchor was up at 5.00am and away we set with most resorting to stay in bed as we headed o to set
drop lines above Stephens Island for groper.
Arriving on the Marks and having a few more out of bed, we cut some bait, and the first lines dropped before daybreak.
First line up, one small groper, nothing on the rest so we driftfished the same Marks for most of the day as the tides were small. We managed to get several good snappers, biggest 10lb and three more gropers.
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We headed south and stayed inside Rangitoto Islands for shelter from the slight westerly overnight. Next morning we fished in Stephens Passage and the surrounding area, catching plenty of sharks, a few small snappers and one good trevally.
We then started hunting for kingfish using the sounder and tide to locate the fish before we started to jig. Seven lines over the side and we landed one about 20lb and then we got excited, and the fun began. After a couple more passes, we had some good cod on the 200gram jigs and a barracouta. Then we had a double hook up on the kings and one rod was handed to my nephew Blake Hebberd, who did well to land the big kingy before we even got the camera out.
We were on again and the rod got handed to my eldest Jack and he also landed a kingfish, now we had four goodies.
We moved further along trying to find the school again but couldn’t
see them on the sounder, so we moved around until we found what we thought was more kingfish. It turned out to be barracouta, with one rod tip breaking o , jigs getting lost and lines getting tangled and going around the prop. We decided we had had enough of the fishing. We headed back to Port Hardy, where we threw two free divers and thee scuba divers in. In di erent locations one diver caught two 10lb crayfish. The others caught plenty, and the two free divers speared three large moki. The inflatable was pulled onboard, and we were o back to Okiwi Bay. Some fish were filleted along the way and a few beers had with a lot of chit chat about the adventure, Lady Ash is based in Okiwi Bay, and we are now surveyed to take up to 19 passengers, so if you’ve got a group that’s keen, give us a bell. Shane 0211408204 or go to our website.
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