Fought 52mm crayfish concession for 20 years

Alain Jorion

Opinion

Re: Stop the 52mm concession, April 11 letter.

I have agreed with Merv’s comments about the useless dreams people have about rail travel between Wairoa and Gisborne, owing to soil type that rose from the sea. Far inland, I have collected scallops imbedded in rock that was once the sea floor.

Your call to “Stop the 52mm concession” is a battle I have fought for 20 years to no avail. I’ll tell you why.

The CRA3 fishery is split into three areas — 909 Tolaga north, 910 Gisborne from north of Mahia to Tolaga Bay, and 911 is Mahia.

Right from the start, Mahia fishers agreed to disagree with having the concession around Mahia. This is to do with being a peninsula where females can release their eggs that wander out into the Pacific. It is totally illegal to take 52mm concession crays from Mahia.

Commercial, by way of the Ministry for Primary Industries and the National Rock Lobster Management Group, have sewn up the system in a totally undemocratic way. All sectors at these meetings must agree, or nothing happens.

We checked with FishServe and they confirmed to us that the customary Māori representative owns commercial quota, which would seem to be a conflict of interest.

Our area, 910, has risen from the sea — it is a mud pond and little weedy habitat exists.

DoC science adviser Debbie Freeman established “slow growth” — that 52mm crays left in the water don’t grow to the larger 54mm, the public’s size, for several years. Commercial told us we only had to wait one year.

A commercial fisher at one of the meetings I attended said under his breath that for every tonne they take of concession crays, they could take an extra 100 or so more crays. Live crays caught alive and exported for the Chinese or Korean market are hugely profitable for commercial.

Another aspect our mandate of people say is that our daily take was six lobsters, and is now cut to three. Commercial, with huge quotas, were only cut by 20 percent.

Our mandate includes the Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing club of about 5000 members. Greenpeace NZ has joined us as well as our Mayor Rehette Stoltz and councillors. There are many others.

The latest news is that LegaSea is joining us. They have another 38,500 paid-up members across 53 affiliated clubs.

So, Merv, you are our friend. I hope all this is helpful for you.