We recently ran a news article on an incident in the BOP where an angler was prosecuted for having undersize fish and had claimed to have used a MOF ruler to measure his catch.

It transpires that, Dean Baigent the MOF National Surveillance Manager, was in attendance as an observer during that incident.

Importantly, according to Mr Baignet, at no time was it suggested by anyone on the vessel that it (the catch) had been measured against a Ministry of Fisheries ruler and there was no evidence of any MOF measuring device on the boat.

Further Baignet has stated that " The Ministry of Fisheries stands by the rulers we distribute to help fishers comply with New Zealand’s size and catch regulations".

"We will support any fisher who, at the time their catch is inspected, shows they measure up against our rulers" he adds. 

"Our fishery officers work hard to protect our fisheries for all New Zealanders. They apply discretion, based on their experience and the context of each individual case. And I’m proud of the work of our Honorary Fishery Officers, one of whom was the inspecting officer in this case. This extremely experienced officer has given years of dedicated service to the Ministry and is fully aware when a genuine offence has occurred."

"The Ministry will continue to invest in tools such as the rulers to educate the public about fisheries regulations. I’m happy to say that most people complied with them over the Christmas festive season."

"If New Zealanders want to protect our wonderful fishery resource everyone must help to protect it. This means knowing the rules, fishing responsibly and supporting our fishery officers",  he concluded.

Well that's quite a different story to the one we intially received, and I think we can say a happy ending. There's no debate that the fisheries guys work damn hard in our interests and cop a fair amount of abuse and flack from the few that have no repect or regard for the future of our fisheries. They deserve our help, support and encouragement.

The positive outcome from all of this is it's a timely reminder however to check whatever measuring device you use with a reliable tape measure or ruler - particularly if it's a sticker on the side of the boat or those few marks on your baitboard.