NZ Fadsđź‘ŤIt's time
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: The Work-Up
Forum Description: Game fishing related topics here
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=132058
Printed Date: 27 May 2026 at 10:11am
Topic: NZ Fadsđź‘ŤIt's time
Posted By: MATTOO
Subject: NZ Fadsđź‘ŤIt's time
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 5:22pm
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Time to get improvements in our fishery. Increase the numbers of fads. Instead of countries scrapping ships for metal let's take over the market for a while strip them clean and dump them to create artificial reefs around our coast. The sealife spin offs would be impressive. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Replies:
Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 6:17pm
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Hmm, wondered when the topic would come up. Surface fads would be useful too. Can you imagine getting this stuff past the multitude of Govt regulators? How much money? Why should it be so hard? Underwater Fads are another option. So many possibilities. A few sunken scrapped ships would be a no go area for trawlers at least. Currently I am watching 3 per day ploughing the area we used to get puka from. been there for around the last 10-14 days. I'm guessing all the pup grouper are getting scooped up. Alan ------------- Legasea Legend member |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 6:31pm
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A few sunken vessels out west would be great too. Even if it was a no take zone it would certainly be worth it - it would draw fish in from all over - somehow, dunno if there's a Reef Gazette or something that the fish read but it would certainly help the fishing around it. FAD's would be great but yeah we would need someone with a bullet proof constitution and a real fire in their belly to achieve it.
The answer of course is a little give & take - not something recs or comms are particularly good at. A FAD with a not take area close by for tourists/photographers/divers etc will work well. Tell me I'm wrong - but I'm not. We want to destroy agriculture & manufacturing in this country and pin all our hopes on tourism then this is what we should do.
------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: waynorth
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 8:25pm
Deep pockets would help too. A Leander class frigate is probably worth $1m plus in scrap value, less the cost of getting it to the breakers yard of course. Then there's the costs involved in de-oiling and de-plastic'ing & whatever else need to be removed to sanitise the vessel, and then scuttling. Great idea Mattoo, but a few artificial FADs like the old Queens Buoy off the BOI might be more achievable. Of course, the best ones in NZ have got names like Maui A and Maui B, but having to stay 500m away reduces their usefulness  ------------- treat fish like fish |
smudge wrote:Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 8:33pm
Still be the cheapest artificial reef out. A sunken ship has a lot of appeal to the underwater brigade ------------- Best gurnard fisherman in my street |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 8:39pm
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Was a good one off the chicks in 110m I think, 10m down, the owner reckon a trawling snaffled it, prior to that he drifted a livey around it and almost got spooled by what he thought was a good YFT. So I guess they don't last. ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: Fish Addict
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 at 9:25pm
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The same topic comes up every few years. Here is the last one I recall. https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/is-there-a-place-for-fads-in-nz_topic121944_page1.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/is-there-a-place-for-fads-in-nz_topic121944_page1.html I also found this that may be of interest to some. http://coastfish.spc.int/Fishing/FAD2_E/FAD2E.pdf" rel="nofollow - http://coastfish.spc.int/Fishing/FAD2_E/FAD2E.pdf |
Posted By: Snappa Geoff
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 4:59am
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Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 7:32am
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We are really talking of two different things. Surface Fads work just fine for your pelagics. The sunken frigates etc won't do much for them, but would work for our coastal inshore fish. The surface Fads are cheap and would be easily in the price range of any number of gamefishing clubs. In Vtu we have a dozen or more scattered around at any one time. They cost about $3-5k each. The biggest cost is the rope - several kms. They are generally in about 800m of water. Our coastline is not so steep so would cost less. Easily do-able. The problem would be dealing with pointy headed Regional councils, Maritime NZ etc etc. Even the Greens. Greenpeace had a snitch on Fad fishing and came thru Vtu with one of their ships a few yrs back, cutting the Fads off. They stopped when the locals pointed out that is how they feed themselves. Idiots. Alan ------------- Legasea Legend member |
Posted By: waynorth
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 11:59am
I dived it a few times in a previous life, and yes the schools of kings & terakihi were huge. The species that surprised me most was the spotties. How on earth do spotties get established way out there  ------------- treat fish like fish |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 4:10pm
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Insight. https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-aggregating-devices/use-of-fads-in-nsw" rel="nofollow - https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-aggregating-devices/use-of-fads-in-nsw ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 4:11pm
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Fads and Mahi https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-aggregating-devices/mahi-mahi-and-fads" rel="nofollow - https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-aggregating-devices/mahi-mahi-and-fads ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 4:58pm
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Wonder when our MPI is going to deploy their Fads for Reccs?? Alan ------------- Legasea Legend member |
Posted By: out2sea
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 5:51pm
| Probably when we start paying them in boat registration fees and fishing licenses. Then probably only in 10 years time when we complain we get nothing back. |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 6:19pm
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I have taken a bit of time to learn some things about fads. There effectiveness is unquestionable. Which is why commercial fleets use floating ones for commercial benefit and why green peace appropriately challenges them. The use of inshore fads for recreational uses and limited islanders survival rewards has the same great results worldwide with no discernable detriments. So there effectiveness is irrefutable. So the use is ok for recreational if managed. Managed requires them to be robust in construction and appropriately placed in consideration to commercial and recreational traffic. With a well publicised awareness to there locations with gps notifications on all charts. Let us ignore at this point the rma, that's a too hard basket. The costs to deploy in productive zones for nz are more than reasonable and don't require the need for licences for recreational fisherman to fund. In fact the costs could be easily met by our existing game clubs. Our advantage to reduce financial costs is the shallow depths of suitable deployment. I also believe that with modification on the many options of design available that we can create a unique design that suits our environment and needs. I suggest a large base format with mid water bouys or floating zone. The.subsurface requires a connection point within twenty metres of surface that is removed for the winter period and replaced for the summer period. This system allows lower congregation of many species with a subsurface that suits our kings and others with the addition of the topwater component for attraction to the summer pelagics. It can increase longetivity of maintenance and maintain a uniformity of attraction year round. Those are my considered thoughts on a fad system and design. I believe with the future advancement of tourism these benefit recreational and charter formats. And may play a part in man made reef formats to increase our depleted fish resources. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 6:38pm
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Mattoo do you really know the dirty secrets of commercial fads?? The tuna purse seiners have cameras and radio links to view the gathering below the fads to decide the best time to come and hoover up the entire school and eco system that has been attracted to the fad.   ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 7:22pm
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Yes I do. Can't have a conversation about everything that distracts the focus on the topic at hand. This is not a conversation for the" briny bar". I think you can contribute better than that. Respectfully. Matt ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Fish Addict
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 9:22pm
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Mattoo I hope you or others pursue the logistics with respect to locating FADs in NZ. Clearly they work. I repeat comments that I have made previously and that is fishing clubs need sponsors. We have 6 FADS here in Perth. These are managed by the Perth Game Fishing Club (PGFC) and each FAD has a separate sponsor. In addition there is other funding provided via revenue from recreational boat fishing licenses which is great however we all know such funding is not available in NZ as there is no licensing structure. If the project gets off the ground one other comment I have is that it is worth attaching GPS positional trackers to the buoys. Despite the locations of the FADs being shown on mapping charts such as CMaps, Navionics etc we still have FADs breaking loose as a result of what we believe to be ship strikes. The GPS trackers firstly alert you that a FAD has been cut loose and is drifting and secondly provides you with position locations to assist in its recovery. The secret is being able to retrieve them early before they get out of range. PGFC tracked one of its FADs that was loose for almost 17 months. In that period it drifted a straight line distance of 2,900nm and was recovered by a game fishing boat operating east of Mauritius with lats, longs assistance being provided by PGFC. |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2019 at 9:43pm
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Fish Addict, Great insight and clearly a valuable component to a successful tool. Appreciated. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2019 at 8:59am
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Maybe to get something like this done thru the self perpetuating bureaucracy we have in local and central government is to simply explain they would be able to create a whole new level of bureaucracy on this |
Posted By: viscount
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2019 at 1:00pm
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In Florida they produce concrete reef balls that doesn’t breakdown in salt water and place them over baron sand and they get good results, google it it would be great for beaches like Waihi beach etc, I know of guys who go out and place big coconut fronds in the Caribbean for mahi. ------------- Calling fishing a hobby is like calling brain surgery a job - Paul Schullery |
Posted By: Fish Addict
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2019 at 2:51pm
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Mattoo have you considered an approach on the basis that Maori or Maori ancestors used FADs. Within your link to the NSW website it states: "History of FADs in NSW FADs were first used by indigenous fishermen of the tropical Pacific by floating palm fronds on top of the ocean." I'm sure if suitable koha was paid it may rekindle memories. Authorities would then need to reject the traditional practices of Maori and Maori ancestors. I say this somewhat tongue in cheek but I'm sure you get the drift. |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2019 at 4:12pm
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I was aware thanks Fish Addict. My reference was more a relevance to current times and similar age of bureaucracy within a modern recreational and commercial (charter) environment. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2019 at 4:15pm
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I think the most important question here is. "Should we"!? Or "Do we Want to"!? Is there appropriately a benefit or is fishing pretty good and leaving fisherman to find fish the best way going forward. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Alan L
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2019 at 9:54am
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They save on burning up heaps of fuel -'environmentally friendly'? The fish come to you. If others still want to troll endless miles - they still can. But I guarantee you if you had the Fads, they would be where the bulk of the fishing is. The charter boats here in Vtu all fish the Fads - but they troll between them also - so a mix. But always based around the Fads.They are generally funding them, altho Fisheries drop a few in too. These Fads are quite simple - string of floats. No GPS stuff - when they are gone, they are gone. Last variable times but generally 12-24 mths. The bottom rope is floating rope. The top 20m of rope has the be sinking rope - so when the floats break off the rest drops down out of the way. I used to tie cocnut fronds to them too. But they generally don't last too long. These ones now have like shade cloth tied below. Alan ------------- Legasea Legend member |
Posted By: mozz
Date Posted: 16 Oct 2019 at 8:09pm
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I've done a few fads near the island I work at now and they worked rediculously well. We put them in high current areas between 5 and 600m of water and they produced a lot of billfish, mahi and wahoo until someone cut them off. I was fishing really deep for snapper one day and actually hooked the end of the cut off fad line. Steel I beam. A bit of chain, some rope and a few floaty things is all you need. |
Posted By: jontashya
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2019 at 9:36pm
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz" rel="nofollow - https://www.nzherald.co.nz › article Web results Artificial reef's permit ends amid flak from conservationists - NZ Herald ------------- If we knew exactly what we were going to do in life .........what would be the point of doing it. |
Posted By: jontashya
Date Posted: 24 Oct 2019 at 9:38pm
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Try this link! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D3543649&ved=2ahUKEwiM9u-YvbTlAhV2H7cAHfYmCe0QFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1TGYGXM-KOZdDr7WcFoE6V&cshid=1571906117049" rel="nofollow - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D3543649&ved=2ahUKEwiM9u-YvbTlAhV2H7cAHfYmCe0QFjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1TGYGXM-KOZdDr7WcFoE6V&cshid=1571906117049 ------------- If we knew exactly what we were going to do in life .........what would be the point of doing it. |
Posted By: Titahi
Date Posted: 07 Nov 2019 at 8:00pm
The link below shows what can be done with fishing licenses...WA anglers in line for a 'sports fishing bonanza' http://https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-anglers-in-line-for-a-sports-fishing-bonanza-20191107-p538dw.html" rel="nofollow - http://https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-anglers-in-line-for-a-sports-fishing-bonanza-20191107-p538dw.html
------------- "I love standing by the ocean and just knowing what its for" |
Posted By: Fish Addict
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 12:40am
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The link doesn't appear to be working Jason. I was going to post the same news but you beat me to it. Here is a cut and paste. WA MEDIA STATEMENT Thursday, 7 November 2019 Sport fishing bonanza more than a passing FAD • Network of Fishing Aggregating Devices (FAD) to be anchored off Perth, Albany, Bunbury and Cape Naturaliste • More planned for Geraldton, Exmouth and Broome early next year • Enhanced sport fishing and regional tourism opportunities to support regional economies Recreational boat fishers in Perth and regional WA can expect a sports fishing bonanza for iconic pelagic species such as mahi-mahi and marlin with the deployment of a series of offshore Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD). Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly today announced purpose-built floats will be anchored to the seabed at locations off Perth, Albany, Bunbury and Cape Naturaliste over the next few weeks, and off Geraldton, Exmouth and Broome early next year. The McGowan Government will invest $439,000 of recfishing licence fees through the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund for the installation, maintenance and monitoring of the 26 devices over the next three years. The FAD acts as a floating fish beacon in open ocean to attract schools of baitfish, which brings in large numbers of fast-growing migratory pelagic species such as mahi-mahi, marlin, tuna and wahoo. Concentrated aggregations of these species make for a spectacular fishing for boat fishers and have been used successfully throughout Australia. Off the metropolitan coast, the Perth Game Fishing Club deploys FADs in November each year and then retrieves them the following May. This latest deployment will bring the total number of FADs off Perth to 12. The 20 new regional FAD installations are expected to attract visiting fishers and bring a welcome economic boost to regional towns and centres, with recfishers spending $1.8 billion a year on fishing trips. |
Posted By: Titahi
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 12:42pm
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Thanks for that... I should have checked Looking forward to seeing what turns up on the Broome FAD...... ------------- "I love standing by the ocean and just knowing what its for" |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 4:32pm
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Titanic, Fishaddict, Excellent, appreciated info. They have there heads on in Aussie. We need the game clubs, members and sports fishing council to rattle there dags to rattle others dags. Or just do the kiwi boomer thing and put the fads in with public awareness. No need to create a shipping risk. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 5:10pm
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In the late 80's I remember reading in an Aussie mag where blokes built a portable floating fad, it sounded ingenious and apparently it bought fish in and around it. It was sort of conical shaped floating prism, where the sides of cone formed a sort of hexagonal shaped device of mirrors, it was weighted at the pointy end to keep it point down. It contained a battery and pump system that fire a spray of water from the top of it angled to one side. So as it bobbed and moved on the sea surface it would project and shine/flash sunlight into sea and had water splashing and shimmering on the surface. They used this on the east coast I assume in lesser current areas perhaps... ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 6:43pm
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A rider. I strongly support the use of fads in NZ. But the deployment randomly can create high risks to maritime travel. So if you are doing it off the cuff. Be public, show gps positions to all and sundry. Put a light on, put elevated flags on. Fads are a great idea and should be used here. Many have been deployed in the last few decades. And kept secret. Fortunately as far as I'm aware no maritime issues. So be thoughtful and considerate to us all who use the water commercially or recreationally. And indentify publicly your deployment. The consequences of your deployment are yours, so be very considered in your approach. Consider your use of these as a protest with responsibilities. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 08 Nov 2019 at 8:06pm
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A local put one out N side of the Chicks in 110m... was supposedly 10m below the surface. It lasted over a year, he said he got wasted by what he thought to be a YFT trolling a livey around it. I think it eventually got taken out by a trawler as it was in a common route. ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: Catchelot
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 12:27pm
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Good public info on the Perth model... https://recfishwest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PERTH-FAD-Coords-with-maps-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR27n0kEOvBrf5B6UuA721IVjFb10xrVOsKVxOZXqp6HHgDli8Ieumw2SP4" rel="nofollow - https://recfishwest.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PERTH-FAD-Coords-with-maps-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR27n0kEOvBrf5B6UuA721IVjFb10xrVOsKVxOZXqp6HHgDli8Ieumw2SP4 ------------- "The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau |
Posted By: Fish Addict
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 3:06pm
The locations of six PGFC FADs has mostly been in the public domain. In fact their locations are shown on C-Maps and Navionics charts for all to see. |
Posted By: MATTOO
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 4:09pm
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Well the Aussies are streets ahead of us for sure in that game. Seems like a dedicated Facebook posting will gather more interest here in nz to increase a ground swell to encourage clubs to get something done about it. It is the clubs who should be driving it. I would believe most of there charters state the encouragement and growth of the sport. And the development of new fishing methods and the sustainability of the target biomass. ------------- Still cruising in my now sweetas pimped out Southern 755 HT0! |
Posted By: Gibbo55
Date Posted: 09 Nov 2019 at 10:27pm
| TSFC put a couple of fads out a few years back. You would have to ask them what happened to them? |