Thread: Inshore fishing under threat?

They (govt ) look to have got away with inshore set net bans here under the guise of protecting a dolphin that doesnt even exist here.
Look for this to be rolled out accros the country very soon.

Councils across the top of the south and down each coast have been and are trying to close public access to large areas of coast....usually so someone ends up with private access/private beach.
Nelson/Tasman/Marlborough/Westcoast/Kaikoura are all in the shit for access to the sea.

This is how socialism works....control the food control the people.

Having been commercial fishing and recreational I can say there is no one size fits all soulution to anything.....It absolutely has to be area specific.

And if the ecosystem has got seriously out of whack it wont recover by itself without help wether you take no fish or not.

Kina barrens are a prime example.......seabeads smothered in mud are another...

In many cases raising minimum size of some species just means lots of fish being returned to sea to die, often a take the first 5 fish you catch regardless of size and return nothing would actually be better for the fisherys health.

Fortunately here in Tasman and Golden bays most rec species of fin fish are recovering nicely despite increased rec pressure and increased com quotas with the exceptions being blue cod and terakihi and all shellfish.
The bays have gone from the largest scollop and dredge oyster fisherys in the country to total collapse.....Zero take last 5 years for scollops and apart from the last few spots that still had them no recovery.....they bays are smothered in silt from mainly forestry but all development is to blame.

This is actually something we could help fix....studys have been done.....but we are doing nothing instead.

There is no one size fits all solution to any fish species or area.

Im all for a few reserves especially in areas that are hammered but small and access to the coast must be retained at any cost IMO.

It is your god given right to feed yourself as far as I am concerned........be you black /brown /white/yellow/rainbow.