MEDICINE FOR MARLBOROUGH

Are you a member of the “don’t know that they don’t know” brigade who make up the majority of the recreational fishing sector in the region? If so here’s a brief dose of reality for you.

The residents of Marlborough, and more especially the recreational fishing public who inhabit the region have just come to the same unavoidable conclusion that the Seafood Industry arrived at in the early 1980’s. That is, in broad terms, the fact that too many fishermen were chasing too few fish. Marlborough Recreational Fishers assn has since 1994 campaigned on this very basis.  The Government of the day agreed with the Industry’s request and introduced the Quota Management System (QMS) which in short order drastically reduced both the number of fishermen and the amount of fish that could be taken in any one year. However this very strict control on Commercial operations has not been matched by any “effective” parallel controls on recreational fishing.

Recreational fishers instigated reductions in bag limit for snapper 3, cod 6, ban on longlines, net ban in Kenepuru all of which have been effective.  While not a total solution they are buying time while future management scenarios are worked on.  Whilst the numbers involved in Commercial fishing have steadily continued to decrease the number involved in recreational fishing continues to expand, not only in Marlborough but also proportionately, elsewhere over the whole country. Whilst that would suggest that the problem is somewhat of a “numbers game” that is only a part of the problem and a relatively recent part at that.

The primary problem that those associated with the recreational fishery face is the fact that “they don’t know that they don’t know.” The truth of that is borne out every time they break into print with complaints about the state of the fishery and the inevitable finger pointing that accompanies their displeasure. They continually call for political remedies and totally ignore the biological realities of the fishery and the impact of their own activities upon it. That attitude, together with the ignorance that currently prevails will need to be turned full circle if any form of management is to have the slightest hope of success.

Here is a very brief summary of what the “Guardians et al” don’t seem to understand.

The Territory

Whilst the Sounds may represent a large body of water the actual productive habit is relatively small being confined to very narrow coastal fringes, or strips in many places only a few meters wide. The vast proportion of the area consists of mud plain, which offers no habitat to reef species (blue cod etc) and only harbors a limited number of species, the majority of which are migratory. I

f Peter were to contact Daniel  Lees from Mfish Nelson he could obtain the latest research information on Blue Cod which now shows that at different development stages blue cod inhabit many different areas including mud. 

 Most, if not all of these species do spawn in the sounds and for them it represents a nursery ground for juveniles or a place for adults to feed during their migratory travels. Despite appearances and hearsay the Sounds are not what one would call a productive fishery and never have been. Past tales of good easy fishing must be tempered with the realization that the numbers engaged in fishing were relatively small and tended to match productivity. Any return to those halcyon days of decades ago will take a great deal more than a number of political or bureaucratic miracles to reproduce. What it will take, in the first instance, is a stark and realistic appreciation of the very limited productivity of the Marlborough fishery.  AGREE

Effort (numbers)

The advent of the rail ferries and development of road access into the Kenepuru and Pelorus Sounds in the early ‘60s created an influx of growth in pleasure fishing that has never abated and continues to grow. Those operating in the tourist business sell the chance to go fishing as one of the areas attractions. More and more visitors are matched by a growing number of permanent residents.

More and bigger marinas and a swelling number of trailer boats add to the pressure. As the close and handy locations have been steadily depleted this marine mobility has seen the virtual strip mining pushed to the outer sounds and beyond. Every fishery, no matter how healthy or populous has its limitations and the Marlborough Sounds fishery passed that point some decades ago. AGREE 

 That is a matter of irrefutable truth that can no longer be conveniently ignored by those who continually focus their efforts on blaming everybody else.

Fishing practices

Given that blue cod is the feature fish of the area it is amazing to see how the biology of this species is completely ignored. Recreational fishing for this species continues in complete ignorance of its biological peculiarities and worse still the fishing is done by hook and line. Due to the fact that all blue cod are born female hook fishing takes far too many of them out of the fishery before they become large enough to change sex and spawn.

Hook fishing for blue cod, unlike other species (butterfish is another exception) de-sexes the fishery with the ultimate result being a collapse of the fishery due to recruitment failure. Every one from mum, dad and the kids to tourists and pleasure boaties who use hooks in this fishery is aiding and abetting the collapse of the fishery. Blue cod are not migratory (they only inhabit the rocky fringe) and the shortfall is not made up by larger fish moving from other areas.

The size at which blue cod have to be in order to make the sexual transformation is quite large and the only sure and biologically sensible way to catch them is by cod potting with a mesh size that allows the escapement of breeding size fish. (The very wrongly criticized commercial method which does every thing necessary to preserve the stock) Concentrated constant hook fishing on these grounds besides decimating the blue cod also removes a large proportion of nursery size species which will never grow up to join the main adult spawning stocks in deep water. Terakihi and moki are prime examples.

Bag limits, no matter how severe will do absolutely nothing to solve this problem. Like wise the demand that Mfish commit more inspectors to the area will achieve absolutely nothing beyond incurring massive cost for no gain. The gain is in education of fishers to properly instituted rules be it hook size, MLS net ban etc. The key to managing this fishery is not vested in blaming others, demanding futile fast political or administrative fixes or shifting responsibility but instead requires the participants to face up to the cold hard facts.  AGREE

Commercial/recreational relations

As mentioned earlier the commercial sector has been used both erroneously and ignorantly as whipping boys. Any effect they have on the fishery at this time is either negative or beneficial Based on what?. Set netting for flat fish on the mud bottom is no threat to the fishery or other users no matter how it’s dressed up to detract from the real problem.

Why then has the set net ban in Kenepuru spawning grounds seen a reappearance of small snapper in the inner sounds.  Something not seen for 30+ years?

The commercial blue cod potters are the only people displaying any respect towards that fishery. The fact that the steady withdrawal of commercial activity from the area to almost zero has not cured the problems speaks volumes. It does cause one small problem however that might not be such a bad thing. The Guardians et al are running out of other entities to blame. Their best shot would be to take up the offer presented by the Challenger Finfisheries Management Company to join with them and develop a fisheries management plan.

Marlborough Recreational Fishers are currently working with Mfish on a Blue Cod management plan CFMC is not represented and I am unaware of any such offer.  It certainly hasn’t been made to MRF or the FLC.

Getting into bed with them together with the CRAYMAC 5 group *and the Scallop Enhancement Company and taking on some backing from both the Ministry and the Minister of Fisheries is clearly the best option. Another good option via the creation of a salmon fishery should be reconsidered. Given the state of the fishery and its naturally low productivity the salmon issue deserves a top priority without doubt.

The CRAMAC 5 group should be a model for other single species management groups due in the main to the stuardship of Ted Collins.  MRF works with them and has provided divers to carry out some of their research gathering.  However  key members of this group will tell you that managing a single species fishery is infinitely more simple than multi species wet fish management.

Do’s and don’ts

Clearly decisions have to be made and it’s important for all concerned that they produce positive results. For what it’s worth here are a few suggestions.

Don’t keep looking for others to blame for your own self-created problems. By continuing down that path so valuable 20 years have been lost. Time is too valuable to waste on totally non productive procrastination.

Don’t get suckered in by the Green Movement’s call for marine reserves as an answer. They will simply remove your options forever and despite the dogma and propaganda will do nothing to restore the fishery or manage it back to good health.

Don’t think that the District Council taking over will change anything. They are very much a part of the “they don’t know that they don’t know” brigade. Their best possible role is to lend every possible degree of support to the fishery management plan process.

Don’t assume that the process will be easy or fast. Whilst managing fisheries is relatively simple (once the biological parameters are understood and accepted), managing the people involved is not. Reality and sound science must be the order of the day and override emotion and personal prejudice.

Do every thing possible to become aquatinted with and understand the biology, the dynamics and the environment in which the fishery exists.

Do get to understand the human impact on the fishery and accept the fact that a number of hard decisions will be necessary and they certainly won’t be popular.

Do accept the Commercial Sectors offer as sincere and genuine because it is.

I agree with all these do’s and don’ts

And finally, if after reading this you feel compelled to put pen to paper and launch an attack on me, then do so by all means. But I would suggest that you think it out well because I’ve got a lot more where this came from. But if you want to shoot the messenger, then so be it.

Peter Stevens

The Recreational Fishing Quandary

By Peter Stevens

I’d just about given up on writing anything more about, or for the Recreational Fishing Sector. Given their inert limbo like state it would be easier to write far more exciting and interesting stuff about vegetables or slaters. However the problem that Rec. Fishers now face, with the Government (any Government) looking more than likely to take away a goodly portion of their “God given” lot, cannot be ignored.

If Rec. fishermen ignore this issue and hope it will go away they have another think coming- it promises to get far worse. Perhaps they might care to read my article on the subject, “The Lord Giveth, and the Government Taketh Away”, elsewhere in this issue.

And, to add a little more grist to the mill the Rec. Fishermen from Marlborough have recently burst into print with tales of woe from their neck of the woods. All good stuff, but lets keep things in order and look at the “taketh away” problem first.

Pulling Together

For as far back as most of us can remember the Commercial and Recreational sectors have been at loggerheads to varying degrees. Each group blames the other for problems, both perceived and real, and even although the recees do most of the blaming it is a two way street. Every now and then representatives of the two groups happen to meet (usually during the social side of Conferences) and exchange pledges to commit to a marriage of interest. However the pledges of endearment, typically along the lines of; “we are all in this together,” are soon forgotten and these occasional marriages are never consummated

. Divorce proceedings follow based on the grounds of incompatibility or due to meddling on the part of family members from both sides who weren’t invited to the wedding. After all apathy is in ample supply and it’s far easier to blame others for your problems than it is to join with them and seek out solutions. The joint development of long term strategy based on the bigger picture is far too hard and boring compared with the egotistical fervor of ceaseless skirmishes. Both sides are equally responsible for not acting responsibly and have jointly contributed towards the creation of the vacuum that I’ve described in the other article (The Lord Giveth etc.).

 Instead of occupying the high ground by consummating the marriage of co-operation and mutual interest both parties are still at the bottom of the pit throwing rocks at each other. Meanwhile politicians are having to look elsewhere for policy ideas and direction, and getting it, so I shouldn’t have to remind anybody as to who is sitting on the top of the hill looking on with satisfaction, having had a relatively unimpeded run to the summit. So all in all there has been no effective “pulling together,” due in the main to perceived differences that can best be described as petty inventions for doing nothing and totally ignoring the bigger picture. So let’s examine the fractious perceptions for what they really are and perhaps arrive at the big picture.

The Real World.

1.      Recreational fishermen just want to be able to go fishing without any hassle.

Funnily enough that’s exactly what Commercial Fishermen want too. They don’t want to have to put up with all of the hassle but they know that they have to accept it as the price for working in the management regime. Ask all of them and they’ll say that they just want to go fishin

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2.      The Commercial guys use commercial methods and Rec. fishermen don’t.

Not true. Every single item of fishing gear and the technology used by Commercial fishermen is freely available to Rec. fishermen. In fact the expansion rate in the adoption of high tech gear by Rec. fishermen over later years outstrips the Commercial sector. Take out the deepwater freezer vessels and the Rec. fishing equipment market is larger than the Commercial sectors buying. Ask the suppliers.

3        Commercial fishermen have the edge because they know how to catch fish and 

 where to go.

      That may have once been the case but no longer. Rec. fishermen are increasingly fishing exactly the same grounds as the Commercial guys. And in terms of knowing how and where to catch fish the rec. sector has truly caught up. The Commercial sector has never ever had access to the plethora of “how to, where to and what with,” information that is available to the Rec. sector. Commercial fishermen have to learn their craft the hard way by trial and error, make or break and watching their shipmates.   At the end of the day, both sectors, when they head out fishing, trust pretty much to luck.

4        Commercial fishermen deplete the grounds where we want to fish.

There are a number of explanations that serve to dispel this worn out catch-cry. In many areas it is the recreational fishermen who are bringing about the localized depletion. They simply cannot expect to continually fish the same area in great numbers without reducing the standing population. Instead of accepting the biological reality of the situation and spreading their effort (as Commercial fishermen do) they immediately resort to blaming some one else for their own failure to understand the basic concepts.

 Many other things affect fish populations such as migratory patterns, sea temperatures and natural biological phenomena. Algal blooms and jellyfish invasions play a big part in all of this. An algal bloom the likes of which occur all around the New Zealand coast recently decimated the vast majority of marine life in Wellington Harbour. Recreational fishermen need to temper their expectations with some statistical and biological reality. (More on this issue in the following section concerning Marlborough.)

   5 The commercial sector have more money to spend than us, which gives them  more clout, and us far less say

That comes about for the simple reason that the commercial sector has accepted the imperative need to manage fisheries and that has to be paid for by the participants. No one in the commercial sector willing pays any more so than those in the recreational sector are willing to do so. The only difference between the two groups is that the commercial sector accepts that there is no longer such a thing as a free lunch and the recreational don’t. I

f the recreational sector spent 5% of their expenditure on fishing, on getting organized and participating in fisheries management they’d have more clout than they’d know what to do with. In that respect the only real difference is the fact that one group has accepted the future and the other is living in the past.

  6 Charter boats shouldn’t have to have a quota.

When is the recreational sector going to wake up to the fact, that by association the charter boat operators are hiding behind their shirttails? Theirs is a fully-fledged commercial operation no different from commercial fishing. They are exactly the same as commercial fishermen in that they derive their income from the fish that come over the side of their boat.

The recreational sector is being totally inconsistent when they rail against commercial fishermen on the one hand and support a free ride for charter operators on the other. Whether they realize it or not the rank and file recreational fishermen are subscribing