| Letter
to Editor - Christchurch Press
by
Dr Graeme Bishop
23
Nov 2004
Editor
The Press
Dear Sir,
Anyone who enjoys fishing is realising that the important Kahawai
fishery is under serious threat from the new Minister of Fisheries.
David Benson-Pope's decision to continue mass commercial targeting
of Kahawai is being challenged in the High court.
Recreational
fishing groups in the past have successfully forced the government
to rethink bad decisions. For example if it wasn't for previous
action we could all be paying a license fee to fish from the shore
or a boat.
This
is an important game fish and if present in the numbers it should
be would feed thousands of New Zealanders for months. There should
be no targeting of Kahawai by commercial interests and it should
be a recreational only fish species.
Numbers
have been severely depleted by mass commercial fishing methods,
yet it is still being sent overseas commercially for low value fish
bait.
To
help support this action check out www.kahawai.co.nz
and in the future you or your children can go fishing with
a good chance of catching something.
Yours sincerely
Dr Graeme Bishop
Christchurch
|
