“Review of Harvest Estimates from recent New Zealand National Marine Recreational Fishing Surveys” by Robert Kearney, Proffessor of Fisheries, University of Canberra – released in September 2002

Over the last two decades there have been numerous surveys of recreational
fishing in New Zealand. The scope and scale of these surveys varied
enormously, as has the utility of the results.

In response to growing awareness of the magnitude and importance of
recreational fishing and the need to base management decisions on adequate
knowledge of all fisheries resource uses, the Ministry of Fisheries commissioned
the first large-scale national survey of marine recreational fishing in 1995/96. A
second national survey was carried out in 1999/2000. Both of these surveys
produced a wealth of extremely valuable information on how many anglers there
are in New Zealand, the distribution and associated demographics of marine
recreational fishing throughout the country, the amount of fishing done by
individuals and the species caught and their size distributions. The aggregate of
this information from each survey provided estimates of the total recreational
harvest from marine waters. The two estimates of the total harvest varied by
approximately 300%.

As differences of this magnitude in estimates of the recreational catch have
significant implications for fisheries management and resource use policy, a
review of the results of the two surveys, and in particular the reasons for the
differences between them, was commissioned in July 2002. This report
represents the results of that review.

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