Editorial: We need wisdom and fortitude to help our snapper

What can surely be agreed upon is the need for real and considered investigation into what’s happening with our snapper.

For many, it is the quintessential New Zealand fish. Snapper is one of the country’s largest and most valuable commercial species and is the largest recreational fishery in the country.

New Zealand — the North Island in particular — is justifiably famous among recreational anglers around the world for the quality and size of its snapper. From holiday anglers “just trying to catch a feed” to trophy hunters chasing an elusive “20 pounder” (9.07185kg just doesn’t have the same ring to it) snapper is a species that fires the imagination.

And for those unable or unwilling to wet a line, the availability of fresh snapper via the commercial fishing industry is a major attraction at our fishmongers and supermarkets. It is our most popular food fish by volume and has been for centuries. Māori have fished for snapper — tāmure — for more than 700 years and it was an important traditional food. So the rise of milky white flesh syndrome in this taonga of the seas should concern us all. As previously reported, including in the Herald last week, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) was contacted earlier this year by both recreational and commercial fishers reporting white, soft, and “mushy” flesh occurring in 10 to 50 per cent of wild-caught snapper.

Recreational fishers who spoke to Niwa said the condition had a sporadic presence in the last decade, however, there were concerns about the increasing prevalence of the mushy flesh.

Analysis and observation of the snapper by MPI suggested the affected fish had undergone a prolonged period of starvation. According to LegaSea, a not-for-profit organisation focused on restoring coastal fisheries, one in five snapper presented at the Kai Ika Project filleting station at Westhaven Marina during the past months have had mushy flesh.

The government and scientists have “not yet found a definitive cause for these signs of muscular atrophy [but] tests indicate a degraded ocean environment and depleted food source are contributing factors”, our news report said.

Earlier in 2023, New Zealand Fisheries science and information director Simon Lawrence described the situation as “a complex matter”, adding impacted fish did have food in their stomachs.

LegaSea’s Sam Woolford believes tests indicate a degraded ocean environment and depleted food source are contributing factors: “Greater marine protection is required to restore fish abundance and shoreline biodiversity. This starts with transitioning away from bottom trawling and into selective fishing like longlining. Mushy snapper highlights a fish population that is seriously unwell and there is a genuine and growing concern among many people who depend on the ocean for their livelihoods about what this means for New Zealand’s favourite fish.”

Theories about the causes of marine environmental decline and fish species population reduction can be controversial. So too can be the issue of commercial versus recreational take — some say anglers account for 40 per cent of New Zealand’s snapper catch.

But what can surely be agreed upon is the need for real and considered investigation into what’s happening with our snapper. If fishing methods, including trawling, are a root cause, we need the wisdom and fortitude to make change — while at the same time ensuring there is enough of New Zealand’s fish for all.