Last week a 200 metre longfin eel made of recycled cloth snaked its way up to Parliament, delivering of a petition of 10,000 signatures to stop commercial fishing of the fish.
The petition, begun by Forest & Bird, Green Peace, Manaaki Tuna and ECO, demands an end to the commercial fishing of the longfin, which is currently classed as 'at risk and declining' by the Department of Conservation. Iwi also supported the measure, emphasising that the extinction of the tuna (eel) would be a huge cultural loss.
The Ministry for Primary Industries has introduced a minimum and maximum (4kg) size for the longfin, however Massey University Senior Lecturer, Dr. Mike Joy, says that faster-growing females are more likely to be fished out. "The females are always larger than the males. Because there's a minimum size and because females grow larger first, fishermen are more likely to catch females." A 4kg female would measure well over 1 metre, says Dr. Joy.
This will have major impact on the future of the species; females are not only more likely to be fished out, they also take longer to sexually mature - between 30 and 100 years compare with 15 to 45 years for males.
Dr. Joy said: "People think that New Zealand's Quota Management System prevents unsustainable fishing practises but this is really quite far from the truth - no longfin eel quota has ever even come close to being met - how can management like this have any impact on controlling harvest levels?", adding, "with all the additional threats eels are facing, in my opinion, extinction is inevitable if they continue to be commercially fished at current levels."
