Down in the Bay we have settled into an early winter routine and activities out on the water are far less frequent now. I have the wood fire going most days and nights and the dog stays tucked up inside to keep warm and dry. I only go to town when I really have to and I can content myself doing a bit of gardening on the fine days, a bit of fishing on the calm days, and a lot of reading on other days. I am a tech reader myself – did my time on spy and detective novels years ago when I was at sea, but now I am more inclined to the non-fiction genres.
In my monthly perusal of fishing media I have noticed an increasing fisheries management trend – stopping people from going fishing. Seems to me that the Ministry responsible for fisheries is not ‘for fishing’ at all when it comes to inshore species around our coastline.
Scallops in decline? Close the fisheries. Paua in decline due to poaching? Close a fishery – as they did at Waimarama in Hawkes Bay. Hauraki Gulf Marine ecosystem appears to be out of balance? Officials can’t or won’t manage land-based sources of marine degradation so they stop everyone from fishing. (Well not everyone – customary fishing is generally allowed). And I am not just talking about marine reserves here – yes, it’s everybody out when they are declared, but there are currently all manner of so-called temporary closures in force across Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Northland. I found one that has been temporarily closed for just over ten years; several others remain closed four or more years on; and in 2023 one was proposed to be temporarily closed until 2029.
DOC published a report in December 2004 which ran to 160 pages of maps, information and explanation about area-based restrictions in the New Zealand marine environment. It needs an update because in the 20 odd years since we have lost a great deal more fishing opportunity.
I have never understood political reluctance to actively manage fishing – to limit the size and quantity of marine life that can be legally harvested, to declare and enforce what methods can be used and the other rules of participation. The commercial blokes in my Bay can’t move without some form of electronic surveillance and almost real-time reporting on their vessels yet over the warmer months I watch hundreds of visitors scrambling around the rocks taking marine life with no supervision. I expect the Ministry responsible for fisheries will close my Bay sooner or later.
