Fishery officers who ran three patrols around the small Northland settlement of Whananaki over five days in late August found that every person they inspected was breaking the fishing rules. The Ministry for Primary Industries released the results on Tuesday, and 1News reported the ministry recorded a 100 percent non-compliance rate across the three visits.
The first of the three came on Thursday 20 August, when officers found a catch bag abandoned by two people who appeared to have left the area in a hurry. Inside were eight undersized packhorse rock lobster, all of them taken with purpose-made illegal crayfish hooks, and several of them in the soft shell stage. The bag also held four red rock lobster, one of them undersized and one a female carrying external eggs, along with four undersized pāua. The ministry said the mix of small animals suggested the spot being targeted was acting as a nursery habitat for juvenile marine species.
Five days later, on Tuesday 25 August, officers came across two men diving nearby and found they were carrying eight undersized packhorse rock lobster, several of which were soft shelled. Both men were told they would receive infringement notices of up to $750 each.
Officers went back to Whananaki again and located three divers who had allegedly hidden a catch bag nearby. That bag held 26 undersized packhorse rock lobster and a female red rock lobster carrying external eggs. Many of the packhorse rock lobster had been speared and some were in the soft shell stage. Two of the three divers had their full sets of dive gear seized and are likely to face prosecution.
Almost every element of those three finds is separately against the rules. The ministry’s rock lobster rules, last reviewed in March this year, list four categories of protected lobster that have to go straight back in the water. They are undersized lobster, any female carrying external eggs on the underside of the tail, any lobster in the soft shell stage, and any lobster that cannot be measured because its tail is damaged. Soft shell animals have recently moulted and are especially vulnerable, and a female in berry is carrying the next generation.
The method matters too. The same rules tell fishers to “never use a spear or device that could puncture rock lobster shells”, because a punctured or torn lobster that turns out to be undersized cannot be returned alive. Hand gathering and a crayfish lasso are the only permitted ways of taking them. Hooks made for dragging crayfish out of crevices are illegal for the same reason.
The patrols also come only five months after a major tightening of the rules on that stretch of coast. From 1 April this year, taking spiny rock lobster, the red crayfish most New Zealanders know, was banned along the entire east coast of Northland, from Ohao Point at Pārengarenga Harbour in the far north down to Cape Rodney at the top of the Hauraki Gulf. Whananaki sits inside that stretch. The closure joins an existing ban in the inner Hauraki Gulf to form a continuous chain of protection down the northern east coast. On that coast, a red rock lobster of any size is now off limits.
At the same time, the recreational daily limit for packhorse rock lobster was cut to three per person nationwide, and the limit for spiny rock lobster in the west coast portion of the Northland fishery was cut to two. Announcing the changes in March, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones said the measures were designed to stop people simply moving their effort somewhere else.
“Recreational daily catch limits have also reduced for spiny rock lobster in CRA 1 and for the packhorse rock lobster in all parts of the country. These new limits will protect against fishers simply switching their effort to nearby areas and species,” Mr Jones said.
“Taken together, these closures represent a significant measure to give this important fishery an opportunity to recover so that it can be used and enjoyed by future generations.”
The reason behind the closure is the spread of urchin barrens, the bare rock left behind when kina graze out the kelp forest. Rock lobster are one of the few predators that keep kina numbers down, so a depleted lobster population and an expanding barren tend to feed each other. “Addressing kina barrens and bringing back the natural ecological balance in the fishery is a priority,” Mr Jones said in the same statement. He also noted that anyone caught breaking the rules can face a fine of up to $100,000 and have the gear used in the offending seized, which is what happened to two of the Whananaki divers.
Whananaki is not the first part of that coast to draw a formal response. A short way south, a temporary closure covering Tutukaka Harbour, Ngunguru Bay and the surrounding Rehuotane Ki Tai area was extended for another two years from 26 June this year. That closure runs about 73.6 square kilometres, from Middle Gable just north of Tutukaka Head down to Paparoa, and reaches roughly three nautical miles out to sea, Boating New Zealand reported. It shuts off cockles, mussels, pāua, pipi, packhorse rock lobster, tuatua and a long list of other species, and bans net fishing in the harbour and the two river estuaries. Whananaki sits just north of the closed area.
The ministry said the concerning results of the three patrols pointed to continuing pressure on the fisheries around Whananaki, where a lot of residents rely on kaimoana, the seafood taken from the local coast, both as a food source and as a cultural resource.
“Protecting them requires a collective effort to ensure future generations can continue to enjoy and benefit from healthy marine ecosystems,” the ministry said.
“If current levels of non-compliance continue, the long-term sustainability of these valuable resources will be at risk.”
It asked anyone who sees suspicious or illegal fishing activity to report it to fishery officers. Reports can be made on the ministry’s 0800 4 POACHER line, 0800 476 224, and calls and personal details are treated as confidential.
What is striking about the Whananaki numbers is not that officers caught people, but that they caught everyone they checked. Three patrols, five days, and not one clean inspection. That is a small sample and a single stretch of coast, and it should not be read as a verdict on recreational fishers generally. But it does suggest that on this particular piece of the Northland coast, the message about size limits, berried females and soft shell lobster has not landed.
Have you fished the Northland east coast, and have you noticed the crayfish getting harder to find? Tell us what you have seen in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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