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7 October 2005

Encouraging Signs for Challenge Team

Kahawai Campaign

Support for the Kahawai Legal Challenge campaign increased noticeably during September. 73 percent of people contacted during the month welcomed the opportunity to take a Supporters Pack and help with the fundraising effort. More donation Booklets have been ordered and delivered. T-shirts and bracelet supplies are also being monitored. There are so many people willing to say, yes we will Stand and Fight.

Court Challenge

The campaign is raising funds to repay the underwriters of the court case challenging the Minister of Fisheries allocation decision for kahawai. The case is due to be heard in the High Court mid 2006. Powerful affidavits to support the Statement of Claim have been reviewed by an independent QC and given strong support.

The key objectives of the Court proceedings are to:

• Ensure that “more fish are left in the sea”, so there is a return to better fish catch rates; and
• Clarify the Minister of Fisheries' decision-making powers for amateur and recreational fish species.
  

Underwriters include the NZ Big Game Fishing Council and option4. It is very important we support the people funding this campaign as we might need them again in the future. This is the first time the public has said “enough” and taken the Minister of Fisheries to court challenging his decisions. If the court ruling does not fully satisfy our aspirations regarding future allocation decisions we   may need to repeat the process for other important species such as snapper.

Appreciation

Thank you to all those who have already sent their Booklets back after getting money off their friends, work colleagues and club members. The T-shirts have proven to be more popular than we anticipated, as have the new cause bands that are trendy with the younger crowd. Some people have decided it was too hard asking for donations but most are willing to give it their best effort and are surprised with the positive responses they are getting.

Returning Campaign Booklets

For those want to give their booklets one last fundraising push please do your best and send the books back to the campaign base - Kahawai Legal Challenge, Freepost 131323 c/o NZ Fishing News, PO Box 12-965, Penrose, Auckland.

How you can Help

If you haven't ordered one already, there are several ways you can order a Support Pack:

Don't hesitate to call, we will get your Support Pack, T-shirts and bracelets out to you the same day.

Alternatively a call to 0900 KAHAWAI (52 42 92) will see $20 effortlessly contributed through your phone account. Every dollar counts.

Secure online donations can be made through the website and go directly into the Kahawai Challenge Fund.

Latest Kahawai Decision

The Minister, David Benson-Pope has recently decided to cut kahawai catches by another 10%. This is on top of the 15% cut announced last year. Both of these cuts are proportional, applying to both commercial and non-commercial equally. The Kahawai Legal Challenge team have not had time to fully review the latest Minister's decision but this should be completed by the end of October.

No changes to recreational bag limits are planned at this stage. Submissions on this years MFish proposals from NZBGFC, NZRFC and option4 all supported a management review when new information is available.

We still oppose proportional cuts as being unfair due to the historic commercial targeting of kahawai by purse seiners impacting on our ability to catch kahawai for the past decade or more.

Important Recreational Fisheries

We were all heartened to hear the Minister's July announcement “that species important to recreational fishers should be managed above, or even significantly above, what fisheries documents refer to as Bmsy – the size of a fish stock that delivers the maximum sustainable yield.”

Ministry have also agreed that “ the primary outcome for managing kahawai stocks above Bmsy is additional utilisation benefits accruing to non-commercial fishers.” Evidence that we seem to be making some impact with both the officials and the Minister. The Kahawai Legal Challenge team hope for better outcomes in future management decisions. A court ruling giving us some certainty and providing for “more fish in the water” are the objectives.

The Challenge team need your support to continue the campaign. Please invest generously. The outcome of this case will have a bearing on the quality of your children's future fishing experience.  

www.kahawai.co.nz

13 new pages were loaded onto the kahawai website during September. With the Minister's latest announcement more analysis of the decisions for kahawai and other important species will be completed and posted online.

Online Updates and News

If you are online and want to receive Updates from the Kahawai Legal Challenge team and option4, please go here and register your details. You will receive timely advice of events and news relating to changes in fisheries that are important to you and your children's fishing future.