Golden and Tasman Bays’ set net ban – a baseless regulation
In mid-2020, then Minister of Fisheries Hon Stuart Nash and Conservation Minister Hon Eugenie Sage announced their decision to implement a near ban on set netting in South Island waters, even in inland waterways where recreational fishers’ families have fished for over 100 years without ever sighting dolphins.
Soon after, two public meetings were held in Motueka to discuss fishers’ concerns about the ban applying to the Waimea Estuary, Moutere Inlet, and other inland waters where dolphins had not been sighted, and fishers would be forced to set net outside Golden and Tasman Bays in known dolphin habitat.
At the first meeting, a show of hands demonstrated that attendees collectively had over 1,000 years of experience fishing with some sort of netting method, and almost all had never seen a dolphin. Furthermore, they were unaware of the proposed set net ban or that consultation had occurred mid-2019.
Hon Damien O’Connor, MP for West Coast-Tasman, attended the meeting. He acknowledged fishers’ concerns about the lack of awareness about the consultation process and the lack of information on recreational fishing in the documents that formed the basis for the Ministers’ decision.
At that time, Fish Mainland proposed that MPI officials hold a meeting in Motueka to hear first-hand local fishers’ concerns and proposed solutions that would allow set netting in certain longstanding recreational fishing waterways without posing any risk of incidentally killing or seriously injuring Maui or Hector’s dolphins.
MPI officials declined to meet fishers while asserting “We consider that there was sufficient notice and opportunity for fishers and interested stakeholders to input their views on the proposals”. Officials then referred to the documents that formed the basis for the Ministerial decision.
However, the document titled, Protecting Hector’s and Maui Dolphins: Supporting Information and Rationale, makes clear that in Golden and Tasman Bays:
Hector’s dolphin abundance remains uncertain,
There is limited and highly uncertain information about whether there is a subpopulation, and
The overlap of dolphin density with set nets and, therefore risk, is much less certain than elsewhere due to the very low densities of dolphins.
In addition, there is no information in these documents about mitigating risk by extending the ban into the Bays’ estuaries, rivers, lagoons and inlets.
This dearth of information meant that the risk management options proposed to Ministers were based on observations, but none appear to pertain to recreational fishing in the Bays or inland waterways.
Accordingly, there appears to be no scientific basis for the ban in Golden and Tasman Bays, particularly in the Waimea Estuary, Moutere Inlet, and other inland waterways.
Fish Mainland fully supports applying the ban where netting poses a risk to dolphins. But the Government should not ban netting where there is no risk.
The ban in the Bay’s inland waterways, unsupported by any information, appears to be a direct result of the former coalition Government’s aim to eliminate set netting altogether.
Fish Mainland is preparing a request for the current Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Hon David Parker and Hon Damien O’Connor to meet with local fishers in Motueka to hear first-hand their concerns and proposed amendments to allow netting in no-risk areas.
An alternative recourse, as Hon Damien O’Connor advised, is to file a complaint with the Parliamentary Regulations Review Committee, which Fish Mainland will consider if other avenues remain unfruitful.
This editorial follows up Tim Robinson’s letter to the editor regarding the impact the set net ban has on fishers in the Bays’ inland waterways.
Read original article on page 24 of July issue of The Fishing Paper & Hunting News New Zealand's leading FREE Fishing & Hunting publication | The Fishing Paper & Hunting News
