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Community groups are seeking local board support for a complete ban on set nets in the Whangateau Harbour and estuary system, saying the practice not only strips fish stocks, but is downright dangerous.
Referring to several recent instances of unlawful net setting, local resident Elizabeth Foster told February’s Rodney Local Board meeting the community was outraged by hidden and unattended nets posing a danger to swimmers and wildlife.
Speaking on behalf of the Whangateau HarbourCare Group and Whangateau Residents and Ratepayers, she said nets were often set illegally from bank to bank across the Omaha River, a popular swimming spot, putting children and others at risk.
“Some of the buoys on the net are submerged and there is no identification on any part of the equipment,” Foster said.
“There can be no justification for this lazy, greedy, unsustainable environmentally destructive and downright dangerous practice, which encourages illegal netting, contrary to all existing rules.”
She added that locals reporting or approaching set netters had little or no effect.
“The majority of offenders, if approached, are visitors to the area and claim no knowledge of the rules.
“Monitoring of illegal netting is left to the local community, as the Harbourmaster is seldom available.
This puts community members at risk of confrontation.”
She said the harbour system was an important breeding ground for many fish species, but it was under unsustainable pressure from an increase in population and over-fishing.
“This is compounded by the continual taking of undersized snapper by visitors from outside the area, which appears impossible to police,” Foster said.
“Set netting is indiscriminate and wasteful, and is unnecessary in an area where other forms of fishing are permitted.”
She cited the example of one long-term resident, who said a move to ban set netting was long overdue.
“They wrote, ‘As someone who has reported illegal set nets in the harbour on many occasions, 0800 POACH(ER) is next to useless. On the last long weekend when I observed an illegal net across the estuary, I called the number and the officers were in Thames’,” she told the meeting.
Foster asked board members to support a ban on set netting at Whangateau.
“A ban on set nets with adequate signage would make enforcement of the rules much easier and would discourage visitors leaving nets between tides for their own convenience. There is no benefit to the wider community from this activity.”
She said after the meeting she would be pursuing the matter with local board members for the Warkworth subdivision, Tim Holdgate, Michelle Carmichael and Ivan Wagstaff. They were approached for comment, but had not replied as Mahurangi Matters went to print.
Set netting is allowed if it follows the Fisheries (Kaimoana Customary Fishing) Regulations 1998; if set nets are marked, more than 60m apart and less than 60m in length; if there is a maximum of one net and one bait net per vessel; if no person has or uses more than one set net; if the net is not staked; and if no bait is used.
The Omaha community was successful in getting a partial set net ban put in place 10 years ago. No set nets are allowed there up to 200 metres off the beach from Labour Day weekend to Easter every year.
