LegaSea

Photograph by Alex Wallace.

Kia ora Friend,

LegaSea is celebrating May 28th as National Kahawai Day, in recognition of the community coming together in the early 2000s to save 'the people's fish'.

The 4-year Kahawai Legal Challenge was the first time recreational fishers had taken the Minister of Fisheries to court since the Quota Management System was introduced 20 years prior. It proved the public is able to influence how our fish stocks are managed, to ensure more sustainable and abundant fish populations for the future.

Kahawai was often the first fish a child would catch, and people used the rich-tasting kahawai to feed their family and would marvel at the sight of their large schooling behaviour from the shore. Whether you were out on the water or fishing off the rocks, if you threw out a spinner the chances were high that you'd catch a kahawai.

It is these cultural and social experiences that make kahawai truly 'the people's fish.'

It's 12 years today since the Supreme Court clarified that the fisheries Minister can purposely allocate the available fisheries to meet the needs of recreational or other interests. Since 2010 the Minister has deliberately limited commercial catch of kahawai on the northeast coast of the North Island in order to enhance public fishing.

The Kahawai Legal Challenge was the first ever occasion Kiwis stood together and used the legal process to protect the 'people's fish'.

While there's still a long way to go before that fishery is abundant again, it's time to celebrate this win for public fishing interests and make May 28th a national event.

The Kahawai Legal Challenge

The kahawai camper.

The Kahawai Legal Challenge was a response to the Minister of Fisheries' unfair allocation decisions when kahawai was introduced into the Quota Management System in 2004. The Minister allocated most of the available quota to industrial fishers who had already ravaged the fishery, using purse seiners and spotter planes to hoover up thousands of kahawai schools.

The Minister's decisions were not publicly well-received, with people upset that they had been denied access to a rich source of protein for years, and that their fishery was no longer abundant enough to provide for their social and cultural wellbeing.

A major campaign was launched. The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council spearheaded the challenge. Te Runanga A Iwi O Ngāpuhi and Te Runanga o Ngāti Whātua supported the challenge because kahawai was a traditional food source for many whānau in the north. After pursuing the case through all available legal channels starting with the High Court in 2005, the Court of Appeal in 2006 and Supreme Court in 2009, the outcome was a mixed decision.

Ultimately, the Kahawai Legal Challenge was a test case. In the ensuing years the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council has increased its involvement in fisheries management and policy processes, initiated LegaSea to reach out to the public, and more recently developed a viable alternative to the Quota Management System – Rescue Fish Ika Rauora.

Billboard on Parnell Rise, Auckland, 2004.

Key members of the Kahawai Legal Challenge support team.

None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for the thousands of Kiwis who were willing to collectively contribute over $1.2 million to support the effort to achieve 'more fish in the water' and fairer decisions.

Kahawai decision day, May 28th, is a day worthy of national celebration. Every year.

Read more about the Kahawai Legal Challenge here

Win a year's subscription to New Zealand Fishing News

May edition of the New Zealand Fishing News.

To celebrate National Kahawai Day, New Zealand Fishing News is giving away two one-year subscriptions to their magazine.

NZ Fishing News are a LegaSea Platinum Sponsor and have always been a great supporter of what we do. Even before LegaSea came about, NZFN were supportive of the early recreational fishers' advocacy. NZFN consistently showed their enthusiasm for the Kahawai Legal Challenge by providing space in their magazine for advertising, articles, letters, and provided us with images from contributors.

To be in to win a subscription, submit an experience you've had with kahawai. Whether it is going fishing for them, filleting, cooking or eating kahawai, swimming or diving with them or whatever, we want to hear about it.

Submit your story, and maybe a photo or two, to kahawai@legasea.co.nz. We will publish the best ones on our website and the 2 best stories will win a years subscription to the New Zealand Fishing News magazine. We also have 10 original Kahawai Legal Challenge t-Shirts to give away. Any entries will go into a draw to win one of these.

Competition closes this Sunday 30 June at 9pm.

Depletion of kahawai along Marlborough's coastline

The Marlborough Recreational Fishers Association has written to Minister David Parker expressing deep concern about the heavy depletion of kahawai along Marlborough's coastline. Locals around the top of the South Island are dismayed at the noticeable decline in kahawai numbers over many years.

Tony Orman of the Marlborough Recreational Fishers Association recently wrote in the Blenheim Sun about this issue. You can read his article here.