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.

This will be followed up by another delivery in January where it is expected another 10,000-odd submissions will be presented. The submission booklets continue to come back in - who knows what the final numbers of supporting submissions will be?

In addition there are many clubs, Industry Associations and other organisations that have made submissions endorsing and supporting the principles that option4.co.nz promotes.

This has been made possible by the very large number of people who have stepped forward, nationwide, to take up the task of spreading the word to their friends and families. From the word go, the budget dedicated to promoting the Soundings Discussion Document was obviously inadequate. The efforts of option4.co.nz and its support team can take credit for really shifting the tempo of the debate and achieving what media coverage occurred. However, the level of awareness on the part of the general public remains very low.

The Submission Review and Analysis phase of the process is now under way. option4.co.nz has requested copies of ALL submissions. We intend to conduct a thorough analysis in parallel with the Ministry-appointed team of reviewers.

It is expected that the results of the Ministry and Rights Working Group Analysis and Review will be available early March. The next phase of this process of redefining the rights of the public to fish should be made clear by that date. Certainly, further public consultation would be desirable.

A big thank you to the hundreds of people and clubs who have supported option4.co.nz by buying bumper stickers or who have simply sent in donations.

Please register your support by submitting online if possible, in order to receive regular updates and developments. Read what other people have to say. The full option4.co.nz submission is now online and makes good reading. The 'Frequently Asked Questions' section of the site continues to grow with some robust discussion.

If you would like to get more involved with option4.co.nz, please don't hesitate to give Scott Macindoe a call on 025 506065.