Hi team,
I’ll try to keep this short. But it’s a culmination of thoughts and a bit of research on and off the briny.
Yesterday I met a chap called Simon who helped set up the HBC Kayak fishing club. He lives in the south I South Island now. He gave me so much insight into the area I live in (Hibiscus Coast), and the stories of insane fishing and kind enough to tell me a couple of his honey holes of the years gone by.
This prompted me to get out on my Kayak and get on the water yesterday. The spot he shared with me was in the big Bay Area of Mahurangi. I launched Sullivans Bay in calm seas and headed north to the big Bay Area and north . It became apparent that the Rocky foul I had been looking for no longer existed.
I could imagine this place once thick with seaweed and kelp, but what greeted me was nothing but a kina barren.
The super clear water allowed me to look 5-6 mtrs deep to see the barren boulders littered with kina.
There was zero fish life as I slowly drifted over the area.
I decided to pull up on the reef and go for a quick shallow swim to gather a doz kina. Good sized ones.
I cracked the 3 biggest ones open only to find them almost empty with zero meat or roe. After throwing them all back , I paddled back in and started a quick search on kina and fish life . Forgive me for being way too late to this party but my research left me disheartened, disappointed and frustrated.
In a nutshell this is what I learned -
The kina barrens are taking over because their natural predators like snapper & crayfish are no longer feasting on them, keeping them in balance. The reason being (in my area), is because of over fishing and commercial practices that still are allowed within the gulf.
The kina gobble up the seaweed & kelp and apparently they eat each other too. The kina barrens have no nutritional value to the kina therefore the kina are malnourished and inedible.
I read Tony Ortons parting letter when he left Legasea which was sobering.
Our elected Minister we all voted in has done this - “ You can all take 150 kina instead of 50”. That is not helping the biodiversity and delicate balance of the diminishing ecosystem.
There is still bottom trawling in the gulf.
As a Fisho, I knew there were things happening in the background with the good sorts like legasea etc, but after catching no fish yesterday and seeing the size of the kina barrens taking over and the malnutrition of them, and a government that isn’t listening or seeing what we are seeing, just how buggered are we really?

Yes the kina have have stripped the kelp bare.  Kina are very thin,malnourished.  Shortly they will die out due to lack of food. Hopefully then kelp will re establish.

I feel sorry for you guys living in areas  where sea life and fish have vanished. I witnessed it myself at new years in Ohiwa. Camped for a few nights with family. would of watched ten kontikis half a dozen drones set out there rigs daily and only saw one barely legal snapper caught over the days.  you can imagine how pointless surfcasting is there but lots of guys trying that as well. A fare cry from 10-15 fish a set alot of our locals get on there kontikis here. Its great to see the action groups have helped  rejuvinatingsome small areas but i feel alot of the bad areas it would take years for any recovery if not non and they are buggered. Also that carpet weed stuff around the Barrier smothering bay after bay killing off feeding areas for fish has that been addressed yet? or is it out of control. Years to come it could be all over the country. Im greatful i live in an unspoiled no commercial fishing area full of fish.. 

Kina are or have spawned and fishing around kawau and districts has always been hard Dec /Jan .