Recreational fishers' rights need protection, says Dunne

Recreational fishers' rights should be protected by law, United Future leader Peter Dunne said today.

He told the Recreational Fishing Council's annual meeting in Hamilton today he was pushing for a review of the Fisheries Act to guarantee recreational users' share of the quota was set before the commercial sector's.

"If necessary, United Future will review and amend the Fisheries Act so that recreational fishers have priority over commercial fishers to free and unrestricted access to a reasonable daily bag limit of shellfish and finfish in the inshore shared species," he said.

"Freedom of access to these resources must also be preserved -- although still restricted to legally takeable marine species and quotas. The sustainability of the resource is paramount."

Mr Dunne's party has a support agreement with the Government which maintains its majority in Parliament, and is able to influence policy.

Mr Dunne also said United Future was working with the Government on water quality issues, which directly affected recreational fishing.

"Urban run-off is a great risk to the sustainability of marine habitats, especially as the population around New Zealand's coastline grows," he said.

Mr Dunne told the meeting he was not convinced the Government's policies on marine reserves were correct.

"With more funding and research, as proposed by United Future, it will be possible to better assess where fish species are in need of protection and conservation and where access to recreational fishing should not be restricted," he said.

"We should remove the Department of Conservation from the marine reserve application process, and prohibit the department from proposing or initiating applications for new marine reserves."

Mr Dunne said United Future would campaign strongly in Parliament for the Marine Reserves Bill to be extensively rewritten.

- NZPA