Fishing petition goes on hold

UNANIMOUS: It wasn't a big turnout, but a public meeting at Whatuwhiwhi on Saturday was strongly anti-commercial fishing in Doubtless Bay.

Move against commercial boats delayed till summer

When Glen Mitchell arrived at Whatuwhiwhi in 1992 the fishing was great. He got used to catching his limit, 15 in those days, in half an hour, even after throwing the small ones back.

Now he says he can fish for six or seven hours for no more than two or three bites, and nothing to take home.

Mr Mitchell blames illegal commercial fishing inside Doubtless Bay for that, and has launched a petition calling for commercial boats to be banned. And while his campaign got off to a stuttering start with a public meeting at Whatuwhiwhi on Saturday he remained undaunted.

Only 17 people turned out for the meeting, not enough, he said, to really get the ball rolling, but he would ramp up the campaign over the coming summer, when he would expect hordes of holidaying kindred spirits to back him.

(The meeting did, however, unanimously support a call to ban commercial fishing inside a line between Knuckle and Berghan points).

Mr Mitchell told Saturday's meeting that he knew of four commercial longliners working out of Mangonui. Three were operating legally, setting five or six 150-hook lines in different areas, but the fourth was laying one line from the Taipa estuary to the northern end of Tokerau Beach, equating to 33 kilometres of coastline. He did not know how many hooks were being used, but guessed at 10,000.

"He's been doing it for 16 years, and he's never been challenged," he said.

Legal longliners were not his target (although one of those present said a ban on commercial fishing should apply to all), the major offenders being Auckland trawlers that he said were cleaning out the bay, not only ruining recreational fishing but depleting an important spawning ground.

He claimed that the trawlers worked outside the bay during daylight hours, which they were entitled to do, then came into the bay after dark.

"That is highly illegal. It is also destroying the seabed," he said.

"Tuna boats are coming in at night too. They don't have snapper quota, and any they catch are dumped."

Even torpedo fishers were getting poor returns, 1000 metres of nylon and 25 hooks generally catching very little. And what fish were caught were often undersized.

"Everyone should be able to go out and catch a fish for dinner," he said, the fundamental problem being that no one was policing the illegal fishing.

Given that so few people had turned out on a very wet, windy day, he would now wait until summer, however, when he would hope to get support from the influx of holiday-makers. In the meantime his petition had been circulated around Doubtless Bay and Kaitaia, although some service stations that had accepted it were not displaying it.

He estimated he had so far acquired around 300 signatures, but needed at least 1000 if Parliament was to even consider it. Petitions submitted to the Northland Regional and Far North District Councils in the past had "basically been shelved".

(Mr Mitchell said yesterday that he was re-working the petition to comply with Parliament's requirements, and would be contacting all who had signed it so far).

One of those present said some people thought that by signing the petition they had "done their bit," but another said recreational fishers needed to set a better example. Big competitions could see two or three tonnes of fish caught, in the middle of the spawning season, so it was hardly fair to criticise commercial operators.

Mr Mitchell accepted that commercial fishermen spent a lot of money buying quota and meeting other costs, and he had no real argument against those who were making their livings legally.

"Illegal fishing is a different story though," he said.