what area was that,? have only sighted them in the past on the outside of islands..I know the areas was very heavily potted was down the eastern sides of Waiheke

Must be getting lean for them so they try to mop up anything they have missed

Yes..last year all that area,including Ponui Island .It was hammered last year

depending on area,they are allowed smaller size

years ago they used to pot the back of Waiheke "open seaside" the rest was left to the Rec's,
but we found places like Thompsons Point we could get 2 to 3 coal sacks full of crays or the Durella rock, that was the late 60s when i first started diving and belonged to a Club,
not long after that i cant remember seeing a Commercial Cray pot in the area up till i left for Kerikeri,
then i hear from Steps they are potting every where in this area now,

footnote back in the 60s limit was 10crays if i remember right P,P..
there is still plenty of crays around that area but they could be soon wiped out...
seams a lot more are getting into this cray potting lately, we have now 2 cray potters up here where i drop mine,
maybe the next increase will be aimed at this area,

will they ever learn, not likely....
the price of crays drop as the increase in quantity increases go's up..
 
will they ever learn, not likely....
it is so easy to wipe a population out and so hard for it to get established again..

good luck RB they will cream it till its reduce to sweet F^*k all again you can be sure on that..
just hope they dont get an increase because that will make it hard for anyone to get a feed then...

by the way there is no rules on where they can put their pots as far as i know...

maybe you should talk to the local IWI and ask them to do as the IWI up here have done,
get them banned from an area like Waiheke and surrounding Islands...