‘Suppressed’ report recommends new net design
NEW ZEALAND’S inshore fishery is close to collapse, with around half – and at times up to 80 per cent – of catches, including prime species, being dumped as undersized or of ‘‘no commercial value,’’ but the government and industry have suppressed a draft report that reveals a way to save it.
The enormous waste is occurring because fishermen use 19th century-style nets and resist going to a modern design, including one created in Hawke’s Bay labelled internationally as ‘‘fantastic’’.
A British fisheries scientist now living here, Oliver Wade, has been funded to test the new net but his draft report was suppressed by the government and the fishing industry and is unlikely to be finalised.
The draft was leaked Sunday Star-Times.
Although better nets exist, and are becoming compulsory in much of the western world, the industry and the government have suppressed the report partly due to the cost of new nets.
At the heart of the story is fishing boat skipper Rick Burch of Napier who trawls Hawke Bay aboard his 12-metre Nancy Glen II.
He created a net using a mesh setting called T90 which is made of lighter materials and uses square mesh – as opposed to the more regular diamond-weave – allowing for a greater escape of small fish. As well as a huge reduction in uneconomic catch, its lightweight design has a minimal effect on the seabed and means fuel bills are also cut by up to 30 per cent.
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Wade’s report says that for the 42 species studied, the net allowed the release of 54 per cent of unwanted small fish – and this rose to 81 per cent for red cod.
The study says the net would substantially improve Hawke’s Bay’s marine environment, and by implication, New Zealand’s overall fishery.
‘‘ Both commercial and recreational fishermen in Hawke’s bay have noticed a severe decline in catches over the past decade,’’ Wade says in his draft report.
The decline has been so severe due to the ‘‘use of unselective fishing gears leading to high levels of by-catch and discarding’’.
Although the Fisheries Act requires fishermen to land all the catch taken aboard, if boats come in with fish below minimum size or of no economic value, they still have to pay government quota fees, fees to fish storage sheds and the iwi whose quota it came from.
It is often easier for fishermen simply to dump the catch at sea and escape all the costs.
‘‘ Discarding has been widely reported as ecologically damaging, unethical and a waste of marine resources.’’
Wade complained in his report that discards have not been recorded in New Zealand fishing data; authorities have no idea how much fish is being dumped.
Industry sources say research points to around 200 inshore trawlers dumping around 4000 fish every trip for 35 trips a year – 280 million fish a year.
Wade, who did not leak the report, told the Hawke’s Bay inter- net magazine Bay Buzz that the new net was world-leading technology.
‘‘[When] a net is under pressure the mesh closes off making it impossible for juvenile fish to escape, but with Rick’s net the mesh stays open allowing escape. It has less drag through the water which saves on fuel, and has less impact on the sea bed. It’s a fantastic net.’’
Funded by Maori fisheries trust Te Ohu Kaimoana, Ngati Kahungunu and the Guardians of the Sea trust, the report put the net to the test in the Hawke’s Bay in 2011.
Although funding for the report has been stopped and it is unlikely to ever be released, the iwi are pressing to reveal parts of it and to commercialise the net under a new name.