Arkles Bay ban on set nets to resolve beach tensions

Set nets have been banned at Arkles Bay on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula to try to resolve tensions between residents and fishers.

Rodney District Council staff have put up signs at the 400m-long beach advising that set netting is prohibited.

The council decided to impose the ban using powers under its public places general bylaw until a proposed bylaw specifically created for Arkles Bay goes out for public comment and comes back to the council for approval - by late January.

Residents' group spokesman Alan Sayers said an agreement for a bylaw was won after five years of trying to make the council stop fishers driving down the beach at night and filling nets up to 60m long.

He said residents gave the council evidence of 13 swimmers and a dolphin being entangled in nets. Bay users felt intimidated by a group of fishers who set up to five nets at once.

Councillor John Watson said the council could take people to court for bylaw breaches which could carry a fine not exceeding $20,000.

Council staff advised against a specific bylaw, saying it could be seen as interfering with a public right common to all people. The Ministry of Fisheries told the council people were within their rights to set nets for food and recreation.

Ngati Whatua environmental consultant Jane Sheridan said the tribe believed the set-netting method had a "strip mentality" but preferred a compromise based on education, tolerance and compliance rather than a bylaw banning set netting.