| Amateur
Fishers Angry Over Excess Fishing of Kahawai
option4
Media Release
11
April 2004
A fishing lobby group is
appalled by the rampant exploitation of kahawai, a fish regarded
as the people's food and sports fish. Trish Rea, spokesperson for
fishing advocates option4, says kahawai stocks must be allowed to
rebuild to provide for the needs of New Zealanders.
In recent years kahawai
have been pursued by commercial fishers using spotter planes and
purse seine vessels that catch entire schools in a single shot.
"The Ministry of Fisheries have failed to acknowledge the importance
of the kahawai fishery to the people of New Zealand. Furthermore,
they have failed to manage the kahawai fishery in the interests
of all New Zealanders," says Ms Rea.
Over-fishing one species
often has dramatic effects on related species in the food chain.
"Declining kahawai numbers
have had a detrimental impact on other dependent species such as
kingfish whose staple diet was kahawai, and birds such as terns
and shearwaters that join surface feeding melees of kahawai. "Now
those feeding frenzies are a thing of the past or much reduced in
number and size because kahawai have been decimated," said
Ms Rea.
Commercial bulk harvesting
of kahawai produces a low-value product, some of which is sent to
Australia for a variety of uses including fishmeal, pet food and
bait for crayfish pots. The value of kahawai to the million-plus
non-commercial fishers is far higher than the value generated from
most commercial catch.
The Ministry of Fisheries
is in the process of introducing kahawai into the tradeable quota
system and has called for submissions on the catch allocations it
will set.
Like the foreshore and seabed
issue, it is not until someone wants to create property rights for
something that was once there for everyone, that most people sit
up and take notice.
Groups representing non-commercial
fishers have reacted strongly to the Ministry's proposal.
Some have advocated kahawai
are of such importance to New Zealanders who fish that the species
should be "non-commercial" only.
Ms Rea said that non-commercial
fishers were asking that the purse seine catch history be discounted
when setting levels for the commercial catch because this method
was responsible for the current dismal state of kahawai stocks.
"We accept the unavoidable by-catch of kahawai when other species
are being targeted and a reasonable allocation should be made to
cover this activity," she said.
A full response to the Ministry
proposals can be seen on the web at www.option4.co.nz
The public are being encouraged to send in submissions on this proposal
or to write in support of the combined submission online.
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