Recreational Fishing Stalwart Turns 90
In 1993 Bob Meikle founded the Akaroa Harbour Recreational Fishing Club Inc (AHRFC). He was elected its president the following year and served in this role for many years and remains an active committee member.
The first guiding principle of the club is to: support recreational fishers. Bob has been an indefatigable fighter for the rights of fishers. Some of his many roles have been as a member of the South East Fishing Forum in Dunedin from 1994-2010, member of Banks Peninsula Fisheries Management Planning Group 1996-1997, and in 2008 as a member of the Amateur Fishing Ministerial Committee. He has always been a strong supporter of recreational fishing organisations, including the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council, the proposal by Alan Key and the late Nelson Cross to establish a national organisation, the Our Fishing Future campaign, and most recently, Fish Mainland.
Bob has also been a campaigner for a better deal for set net fishers in the management plans for the conservation of Hector’s dolphins. For many years he kept a detailed record of all known dolphin incidents. In 2005 and 2017 he ensured the club made a detailed submission on these plans. The data collected by Bob showed that in the two decades 1988-2007 only 4 deaths attributable to recreational fishers occurred around Banks Peninsula (many times fewer than opponents claimed). The outcome of the 2017 review is still awaited. However, all parties must be delighted that the most recent population estimates for the East Coast South Island were five times greater than previously admitted.
The second principle of the AHRFC is: the conservation of fish stocks. Bob’s philosophy has always been only catch what you need for a feed. One of his pet campaigns was to encourage fishers to use large hooks with the barb bent down when targeting blue cod. For a number of years Bob contacted the Ministry of Fisheries over the decline of red cod stocks in the harbour. What was once the main species caught in the harbour became almost extinct. Finally, after ten years the TAC was reduced, for which the then Minister of Fisheries claimed the credit. We are still waiting for stocks to return to Akaroa Harbour.
In 2006 Bob was invited by the Minister of Fisheries to serve on the committee of the newly formed Akaroa Harbour Taiapure. Amongst his achievements there was support for the introduction of reduced bag limits for many finfish species to rebuild stocks. Bob served the committee for 12 years until his retirement in 2018.
In 1997 the Pohatu Marine Reserve at Flea Bay on Banks Peninsula was established. This was another of Bob’s achievements. It came about because there was another proposal to establish a reserve in a prime fishing spot in Akaroa Harbour. Rather than just opposing marine reserves, Bob’s idea was to propose an alternative which had much better scientific values and would also preserve the sheltered waters of the harbour for those fishers with small boats. In the end we got both reserves. DOC, who was anti the proposal had several terse conversations with Bob over the phone, from the minister down. The department was so mean spirited that no representative of AHRFC was invited to the opening of Pohatu Marine Reserve. Bob served on the management committee for several years and did his best to get studies carried out in the reserve, until the committee was closed down by DOC.
The third principle of AHRFC is: care of the marine environment. One of the first actions Bob took when the club was formed was to contact the tourist boat owners and request them to stop discharging sewage into the harbour (which they did). Bob has continued to support the clean up of the harbour, including stopping sewage discharge from Wainui (a treatment system has been built), and the proposed plan to replace the existing sewage discharge at Akaroa with one further out in the harbour. Thanks to the work of Ngai Tahu and support from AHRFC and others, the Environment Court in 2015 refused the application for the proposed discharge.
Around the year 2000 the invasive alga, Undaria had appeared in Akaroa Harbour. Bob organised a small team of volunteers to record its spread and try to eradicate it. After a while it became apparent that it could not be contained and government’s interest in it ended.
Bob Meikle with a healthy specimen of the rogue seaweed, Undaria
Throughout his long life Bob’s training as a police detective ensured that any work he did on behalf of recreational fishers was correct to the last detail, and was true and honest like the man himself.
