LegaSea

Photo by Steve Fraser

Kia ora Friend,

It's been a hectic month with the recent closing of New Zealand's last commercially viable scallop fisheries.

Minister Parker announced the closure alongside several other conservative decisions for the future management of important species.

We've been busy analysing these closures and what they actually mean for more fish in the water. As always it's a mixed bag. You can read more below.

Scallop closures

The Northland Scallop Fishery (SCA1) is closed until further notice to all commercial and recreational scallop fishing until further notice.

A partial closure has been applied to the Coromandel scallop fishery until further notice. There are now just five tonnes of scallops allowed to be commercially harvested annually from New Zealand waters around Colville Channel and Little Barrier.

Approximate areas of scallop beds staying open marked in red

While we are relieved scallop populations will be given a chance to recover, we are also equally outraged at the decision to keep the Colville and Little Barrier beds open for commercial harvest. These beds are important scallop larval sources for seeding beds around the Hauraki Gulf, down to Tauranga, and continual dredging in these areas may be the end of our scallops once and for all.

Read more here

Hāpuku & bass decisions

Hāpuku and bass catches around the West Coast of lower North and upper South Island have finally been assigned total allowable catch limits, with decreases in commercial catch allowances and recreational limits introduced to help the fishery rebuild.

Red rock lobster decisions

Photo credit: Sam Wild

Red rock lobster (crayfish) catches in Northland have had a small decrease of 5 tonnes in commercial allowances, with a much larger cut in recreational allowances. There is much work to do as crayfish numbers in this area continue to decline.

Meanwhile, crayfish commercial allowances in Otago and Southland have increased as populations of crayfish in these areas are more stable.

Save the Showgrounds

The iconic Auckland Showgrounds has been 'the place' for New Zealand trade shows since 1911 and since 1956, the home of New Zealand's premier boat show, now the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boatshow.

But now the future of the Showgrounds, and the Boatshow, hangs in the balance as a transfer of lease is underway to close the venue to the public and to repurpose tax payer funded exhibition halls into a dedicated private film studio.

Photo from the 2021 Hutchwilco NZ Boatshow

The consequence is that there will be no access to the venue for the 1.2m visitors who attend events, exhibitions and concerts every year not to mention the millions in onsite trade that boosts the regional and New Zealand economy.

The Hutchwilco New Zealand Boatshow is an important event for New Zealand boaties and fishers and we ask you to get behind this petition asking the Cornwall Park Trustees to reconsider alternative lease bids that offer very strong financial return for the park yet do not displace exhibitions and events that our communities enjoy - allowing future generations to continue to visit this iconic venue.

The Hutchwilco New Zealand Boatshow are stalwart supporters of LegaSea and right now they need our support.

Sign the petition now!

BREAKING: With the move to Orange, we have just had confirmation that the 2022 Hutchwilco NZ Boatshow will definitely be going ahead! We'll see you there.

Ngā mihi

Benn and the LegaSea crew

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