Call to limit recreational crayfishing

JACKSON BAY

HAAST commercial fishermen want tighter recreational crayfish limits because of a surge of dozens of visiting boats from outside the region at Jackson Bay every weekend.

Crayfisherman Kerry Eggeling said the local honorary fishing officer had recently checked 72 visiting recreational boats at Jackson Bay, most of them not belonging to locals, in one weekend.

‘‘The increase in numbers is unbelievable. They are coming from everywhere and have big expensive boats worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,’’ Mr Eggeling said.

‘‘So far, we haven’t had any problems as far as people getting back from sea, so that’s good, but there have also been boats I would not even cross a lagoon in.’’

The catches taken from the area by recreational fishermen had increased year after year, he said.

‘‘But this year it more than doubled.’’

South Westland did not have many paua beds and most fish were undersized, ‘‘and as soon as they get to takeable size, they are taken’’.

The situation was just as dire for crayfish stocks, and the visiting fishermen were grossly exploiting crayfish, Mr Eggeling said.

‘‘I would like to see the [individual daily] recreational limit cut from six to three. If you have six people on a boat, they can take 36 crayfish each day.

‘‘Our fisheries guy has measured up to 400 crayfish in a day.

‘‘We have crayfish — and long may they last — but recreational fishermen do not do anything as far as conservation goes. It’s up to the commercial guys to do the conservation and we have done a lot in this area.’’

He put the rise in recreational numbers down to international travel restrictions, the improvement in weather forecasting enabling better planning for fishing trips, and warmer coastal waters bringing fish species that were typically only seen further north.

CRA8 Rock Lobster Industry

Association chief executive officer Malcolm Lawson said he had visited Jackson Bay and seen for himself the explosion of recreational boat numbers, which translated into increased pressure on fish stocks.

The main concern for the industry was the lack of data concerning the amount of crayfish being taken by recreational boaties.

‘‘The lobster fishery is a shared fishery, and we have no problem with recreational fishermen going fishing. The risk is the localised depletion of what is a finite resource,’’ Mr Lawson said.

‘‘There is no doubt such ongoing pressure will significantly impact on this area.’’

Recreational boats today were bigger, more capable and carried better technology, which gave fishermen higher chances of success, he said.

Reducing bag limits was not as easy as it sounded, he said.

‘‘One thing we have considered is an accumulation limit, similar to that in Fiordland, where fishers can only take 15 for a threeday trip and have to bag and tag each day’s limit.’’

Mr Lawson said Westland’s blue nose population was also at risk of localised depletion from cumulative recreational fishing pressure and the area needed another honorary fisheries officer.

Tania Frisby, of Haast River Motels, said the influx of recreational fishermen had its good and bad points: ‘‘It’s bad for the ocean, but good for business.’’

At Waitangi weekend, there had been a continuous flow of cars and boats to Jackson Bay.

‘‘As long as they are not raping and pillaging, we are happy to have them.’’

Former Haast crayfishermen John Cowan said he had heard that the cars and trailers had been parked all the way to Smoothwater Bay.

‘‘Once, people would arrive in white meatworks gumboots with a boat and a rod. Now, they are in $100,000 dollar cars with $100,000 boats.’’ — Greymouth Star

❛ . . . there have also been boats I would not even cross

a lagoon in