Fishing industry celebrates best hoki season ‘in many years’

A solid start to this year’s hoki season has been bookended by an equally fruitful finish for local fishermen.

The 2016 season officially came to an end on September 30 for both the deepwater hoki fleet and inshore vessels that fish Cook Strait and West Coast.

On the West Coast in particular, where the Hokitika trench once again provided a fertile fishing ground for crews, the quality and quantity of catches continued to impress.

The season had got off to an ominous start with Westfleet’s sole boat, Galatea, unloading six times a week, with one 15 hour turnaround bringing in more than 800 tonnes.

Richardson Fishing’s managing director Richard Pollock said that he struggled to recall a better hoki catch in his company’s 23 year existence.

‘‘It was a great hoki season, one of the best we’ve had for many years,’’ he said.

‘‘The fish size was great- some huge fish - and it’s been enjoyed by everyone.’’

The company’s two boats, Resolution and Ocean Pioneer, had been consistently able to complete one trip a day before returning to Greymouth.

Pollock said the season had effectively ended by the first week of September, when the hoki moved on from the spawning grounds.

‘‘It’s the fish that go, not the quota.’’

The country’s biggest quota holder Sealord has also recorded a bumper season and general manager of fishing Doug Paulin said the positive results were an indi- cation of the health of the fishery.

‘‘It’s been a very good season from a catching perspective.’’

He acknowledged this year’s Hoki season was slightly different in that fish turned up later inside the designated 25-mile restricted fishing zone, with larger vessels fishing outside of that line reporting an earlier than usual hoki uptake.

As well as a pleasing catch rate, the size of the fish had been larger than usual.

‘‘It is positive to see good catching backing up the science, which showed that the fishery is in a very healthy state and that it supports our long term plan to order a new vessel,’’ Paulin said.

‘‘A key consideration in spending $70m on a new boat was the health of the fishery.’’

Hoki is widely distributed throughout New Zealand waters and most easily caught during the winter months. It is one of the most commercially valuable fisheries with a market value of more than $800 million.

Between 2001 and 2007 hoki catch limits were cut from 250,000 tonnes to 90,000 tonnes due to a significant reduction in the number of young fish reaching adulthood. Thanks to sustainability measures put in place since then, the total allowable commercial catch was lifted to 150,000 tonnes in 2013.