Cone management

The Friends of Maungawhau, Ngati Whatua and the EdenAlbert Community Board took well over 10 years to assemble evidence about the damage cows did to our heritage cones.

After lengthy discussion with the local community, and after years of cultivating and then trialing indigenous vegetation which would not need to be mowed, the evidence was overwhelming.

Auckland Council parks officers seemed to have dropped the ball (Cow controversy, Central Leader, August 14).

The successful new cone management of Maungawhau should have been steadily introduced to all the cones where it was appropriate.

Renewing a contract on Mt St John which entrenched the former outdated management regime is just wrong.

I applaud the Albert-Eden Local Board chairman and Ngati Whatua for continuing to ensure our cones are not destroyed for future generations. shape than we found it so his kids can enjoy it too.

What we can’t abide is the idea that Big Brother Government is going to drastically cut the quota for recreational fishers in ‘‘Snapper 1’’ (Bay of Plenty to North Cape) while leaving fishing companies’ quota unchanged.

Or worse, once they have screwed down the recreational from 9 to 3, giving the commercial guys the lion’s share of future quota increases. And how many decent fish are going to be hooked and returned – many much the worse for wear – if all of us keep hoping that ‘‘the big one’’ will be one of only three we get to keep?

Or, they say, they might increase the minimum legal size from 27 to 35cm.

That’s a huge jump, and we all know a heck of a lot of pannies will fall into that gap. Labour believes: Every Kiwi has the right