Media Comments

An updated list of news, articles and letters from a variety of organisations seeking to achieve 'more fish in the water' is available on the articles page here.......

The Bay Chronicle article

The Hokianga Accord's call for cuts to commercial take in depleted fisheries is captured in this article from The Bay Chronicle...

Northern Advocate article

The MFish Chief Executive defends the science befind fisheries management and assures us our fisheries are "world-class". A response to Steve Radich

Recreational Fishos Unfairly Punished for Stock Depletion - Northern Advocate article

Steve Radich writes about the west coast snapper reductions, "the commercial sector has singlehandedly brought about the near collapse of this fishery". More here...

Sunday Star Times article on NZRFC, funding, licensing etc 26/5/02

A "FISHING licence by stealth" is being plotted by the group that is supposed to be representing recreational saltwater anglers.  Read more here...

Fishing News editor Grant Dixon expresses his disappointment in progress.....
- Extracts from the editorial of Fishing News May 2002 edition

The Ministry of Fisheries put our fishing rights debates on the back burner until after the election, (Surprise, surprise!) Whereas the Ministry's compliance people can get their act together (witness the recent successful black market paua and crayfish operations), it seems its policy people can't.

"Rocky Bottom" Seafood New Zealand (April 2002 edition)

I'm more than a little surprised that a recreational fisher or two haven't raised the issue as to where the option4 lot obtained their mandate to speak for recreational fishers with such apparent authority.

Tony Orman offers insight and food for thought
- Fishing News April 2002

It is time for an end to the Ministry of Fisheries' procrastination over safeguarding the right of New Zealanders to go fishing for recreational and food. Procrastination was evident in the consultation which the Ministry of Fisheries and its working party carried out following the release of the Soundings document.

Foreigners Could Own All Fish Quota: Judge
NZ Herald / NZPA

Foreign companies would face no legal barrier if they wanted to buy all of New Zealand's fishing quota, a High Court judge has ruled. Justice Ronald Young found that the Government's policy of "New Zealandising" the industry was not enshrined in law.

NZ Herald

Amateur fishers want priority over commercial fishermen. PHILIP ENGLISH reports.
A group of saltwater anglers wants the right to fish locked into law. The movement, which claims huge support among recreational marine anglers, wants the public's right to fish to take priority over the catches of commercial fishermen.

NZ Fishing News - Editorial
Grant Dixon

Here's hoping you all managed to wet a line over the holidays. Fishing conditions alternated from brilliant to dismal where I spent my Christmas break - caravaning at the Waipu Cove Reserve holiday park. After what had been a particularly hectic year with the merger of the two magazines, a number of overseas promotions and the option4.co.nz campaign it proved a relaxing break.

Who's Telling Porkies
Bill Cooke

Who's telling porkies - is it the Recreational Fishing Council or is it the Ministry of Commercial Fisheries? Well, who really cares? Currently both are locked in a fight over who included licensing into the 'Soundings' process and document.

Submissions Delivered - With More to Come

On Wednesday, December 20 , the option4.co.nz team assembled at the Auckland offices of the Ministry of Fisheries to deliver their submission - along with 63,000 individual submissions from the public supporting the principles of option4.co.nz.

Tacklebox Politics - NZ Fishing News December issue
Bill Cooke

The Axe Must Fall

As I write it is a one month countdown to the end of the proposed consultation process around the Ministry of 'Commercial' Fisheries Sounding Document.

I say 'proposed' tongue in cheek as I believe the process will be extended by Fisheries Minister, Pete Hodgson, in the next while, and you will see throughout this column I will be isolating Pete from what has become clearly now 'the Scam Soundings' and its process. 

NZ Fishing News - Editorial December issue
Grant Dixon

Those of us intimately involved with the Soundings process and the promotion of option4 have felt the extra pressure attending a number of public meetings, fielding enquiries and upgrading web sites.  The vast majority of Kiwis, it appears, do not want a bar of any of the Sounding's options. They are voting with their feet - option4 principles are being given the thumbs up.

Tangled Lines- Metro December issue
Jon Gadsby

Changes to the way New Zealanders fish are currently being debated at a series of heated meetings where recreational fishers are defending their traditional rights, complaining about the commercial over-fishing and making it quite plain that they will not accept licensing. Jon Gadsby investigates.

NZ Fishing News - Letters to the Editor
Ian Mitchell
Dump Wrecks to thwart trawlers

A possible solution and a deterrent to the very questionable activities of the opportunistic commercial fishermen who display a lack of scruples and common sense, is to take Northland's abundant supply of abandoned and wrecked motor vehicles and distribute them in strategic locations to form the basis of artificial reef habitats.

NZ Fishing News - Letters to the Editor
J. Tamaki
Kia kaha - be strong!

I want to congratulate the magazine and the option4 proponents for the way they have presented an alternative to the Soundings options.

Nothing the working group has come up with is good enough for the public which, as the option4 Group suggests, should have a priority right to what is their fish ahead of commercial interests.

Angling for a Future
by Peter Stevens (November issue of Seafood NZ)

I can't help thinking that the Recreational Fishing sector would be far better off if they actually did something more constructive than concentrating their efforts on their eternal habit of blaming every one else for their perceived problems.

NZRFC Press Release
Released by Keith Ingram on behalf of President NZRFC
Council encourages sharing of ideas.

As the consultation round of Soundings discussion draws to a close, the Executive of the NZ Recreational Fishing Council held a meeting in Rotorua, on  November 11, to formulate a strategic path for the Council to follow through to the final stages in determining the recreational fishing right.

Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of NZ Marine Reserves no Panacea for mismanaged Fisheries.

Marine Reserves are no solution to New Zealand's mismanaged and depleted sea fisheries says the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand (CORANZ).

The Rape of our Broadbill Fishery
Graeme Sinclair

Well, well, well! the things you learn when you are drifting around on the ocean in the middle of the night. A couple of weeks ago we joined John Gregory, skipper of the magnificent charter vessel Primetime, for a week chasing huge sharks and massive broadbill. The trip was fantastic and the results will appear in next years series, but in the limited space available I would like to talk about the unexpected education that came my way.

"Yes, Minister"
Jon Gadsby

The minister looked at the whiteboard sadly and reflected it was strange that two little words could so easily ruin one's day. "Option4?" he read, as the departmental officer turned the board over

Soundings Stir Public Fishers
Hon. Pete Hodgson

Seldom in my memory has a discussion document on any topic provoked as much discussion as the 'Soundings' booklet on recreational fishing. On that score I rate the Soundings process a success. We set out to get the public's views on how recreational fishing should be managed and we're getting them. That's fine with me.

OPTION4 UPDATE Fishing News article
By Paul Barnes

A proposed saltwater license for recreational fishers is facing fierce opposition from the fishing public during the recreational fishing rights consultation process now underway. The outcome of this processwill determine future public rights and access to our marine fisheries

The Silent Majority Speaks
by Bill Ross

"Government must realise that there are two distinct types of people who fish for recreation. There are anglers who would in the main represent a minority because they join clubs and view their recreational pursuit as a sport and not a hobby. The other group are the silent majority "