You only need to talk to a few recreational fishers out in the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana before you’re likely to hear tales of sickly, emaciated snapper.
For some time now, fishers in the Gulf and up in Northland have been reeling in snapper with flesh that appears milky and mushy rather than translucent and firm.
This so-called “mushy white flesh syndrome” is a direct result of snapper populations not finding enough food to eat. Long periods of malnutrition are causing these fish to develop serious ailments like liver atrophy and tissue breakdown.
Or in other words – Aotearoa’s most iconic fish is starving to death.
When a hardy scavenger species like snapper doesn’t have enough food to eat, it’s a pretty clear indication that all is not well in our marine environment.
That’s why we were appalled to see that government officials have recently declared the widespread disease the result of climate change, and have flatly denied that overfishing or indiscriminate and destructive methods like bottom-trawling have had any role to play.
In a new report on the likely causes of the mushy-flesh fish found on the northeast coast of New Zealand and in the Hauraki Gulf, Fisheries New Zealand has said the evidence points to a “complex range of factors”, including “recent weather patterns” and “natural changes in fish biology”.
Talk about ignoring the elephant in the room.
We’ve known for some time that the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana is being overfished, badly fished (through indiscriminate and damaging methods), and polluted to the point of complete ecological breakdown.
Successive stocktakes on the health of the Gulf show that many key fish stocks are in a rapid state of decline, kina barrens are exploding in scale and frequency, and crayfish and scallop populations are now “functionally extinct” in some areas.
These reports show that baitfish, including jack and blue mackerel - a critical food source for snapper - are among the most harvested species in the Gulf.
What’s more, we continue to hammer the Gulf with destructive fishing methods like Danish seining and bottom-trawling. These involve dragging large, weighted nets across the seafloor – ripping up precious habitats in the process and crushing the crabs, mussels, invertebrates and other species that snapper rely on for food. After dredging over 500km2, wild mussel beds are now functionally extinct in the marine park.
For an alternative viewpoint: Science, collaboration the solution to sick snapper issue - Seafood NZ
More than a century of these destructive fishing practices has left our marine species in a fragile state and depleted important food sources that have historically sustained snapper and other fish.
Ignoring the impacts of overfishing on our starving snapper populations is like ignoring coal mining’s contribution to the climate crisis. It defies belief.
Our immediate asks for the Government are clear.
Before it dusts off its hands and concludes the problem is “warmer weather” or “changing fish biology”, it needs to start by further investigating the causes of the wider collapse of the food web that our snapper rely upon.
This research must be done at pace and must explicitly consider the impacts of bottom-impacting fishing methods as potential drivers of snapper starvation.
Secondly, it’s essential we continue rolling out electronic monitoring (”cameras on boats”) across our entire commercial fishing fleet so we have an accurate picture of what’s going on at sea and can make improved fisheries management decisions for the future.
Data from cameras on boats has already revealed a 47% increase in reports of fish being caught and discarded (such as when sickly or starving fish are caught and thrown back to sea) since the monitoring programme began – as well as huge increases in reports of protected species being caught as bycatch.
Finally, we need the Government to step up and end bottom trawling and other destructive fishing methods in the Hauraki Gulf. If we don’t, it’s going to cost the country in so many ways.
The collapsed scallop fishery is a perfect example of the financial implications of mismanagement – no scallops mean no commercial scallop industry.
But it’s more than just financial. We know the devastation these methods of fishing cause, so let’s stop burying our heads in the sand, listen to what our starving snapper are telling us, and do something about it once and for all.
Too much is at stake if we don’t act now – including our Friday night fish and chip dinners and, in turn, the Kiwi way of life.
