A group of recreational blue cod fishermen in the Marlborough Sounds are lobbying the Government to change the rules which they say are destroying the fishery.
3 News has obtained a leaked NIWA report which shows blue cod numbers are as low now as they were in 2007 – just before the then-Labour government banned blue cod fishing in the area for three years.
Recreational fisherman Hugh Shields says the current rules aren't working.
"What we're really looking for is simply a simplification of the rules," he says. "The rules are too complicated."
Within the inner sounds, recreational fishermen are constrained by a limit of two blue cod per person, per day.
They must obey the "slot rule", which means they can only keep fish between 30cm and 35cm – no bigger or smaller.
And they also must obey the "transit rule", which says blue cod can't be filleted until they've returned to shore.
Shields and other fishermen want the slot and transit rules gone, and a minimum length of 33cm introduced.
Diver Dale Ashworth agrees. She's seen blue cod stocks deplete over the years.
"It takes a while to even see half a dozen of them underwater – so quite a big difference in the amount of time I've been coming here," she says.
Those dwindling numbers saw the Sounds blue cod fishery closed in 2008.
Now a leaked NIWA report shows numbers peaked mid-closure in 2010, but have since plummeted to pre-closure levels.
The slot rule is meant to protect juveniles and the larger females who carry the most eggs.
But fishermen say the rule increases fish mortality through rough handling and swallowed hooks, and by leaving fish vulnerable to hungry shags.
"Those fellas catch pretty much 100 percent of the fish you throw back, so we're killing ten fish to catch two fish," says Mr Shields.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has received hundreds of emails requesting change, but he's asking for patience.
"We will be consulting later this year, everything will be on the table, but first of all we've got to work through the science and get that confirmed," says Mr Guy.
3 News
source: newshub archive
