Marine – Fishing bans won’t fix root causes

The days are getting longer, the jandals are coming out of hibernation and a cold beer feels that little bit more rewarding. All signs that a Kiwi summer is on its way.

For most of us, this means more time on the water, sharing laughs and kai moana with family and friends. But as we get closer to our favourite time of the year, a dreadful reality sets in as some of your favourite spots – Hauturu Little Barrier, Kawau Bay and the Noises will be locked up from fishing, as well as the Mokohinau and Aldermen Islands.

The impression is that these small protected areas will contribute towards restoring the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. But it’s hard to believe that when the closures don’t address destructive fishing methods, excessive catch limits, land runoff and sedimentation – all factors contributing to the long-term decline in fish abundance and their habitats.

LegaSea and the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council raised these concerns to the Environment Select Committee earlier this year. Despite this, the committee has given the go-ahead to the government to implement the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill that includes 12 high protection areas (HPAs), five seafloor protection areas and extensions to two existing marine reserves.

It’s encouraging that the new bill promotes the restoration of the precious habitats and fish populations in the gulf. However, the government cannot expect it to reverse decades of damage from overfishing, trawling, dredging, run-off and sedimentation just by closing some small areas to fishing.

Our oceans are complex and require complex solutions if we want restored abundance. The Hauraki Gulf needs a combination of both marine protection and effective fisheries management tools to bring it back to life. Small closures do not change the total amount of fish harvested, it simply shifts the fishing pressure elsewhere. This is why the government needs to implement fisheries management controls.

Making the Hauraki Gulf a separate fisheries management area alongside the HPAs means catch limits can be adjusted to reflect fish abundance in the gulf.

A combination of area and fisheries controls was initially agreed as the best course of action to revitalise the gulf by environmental, recreational, Māori customary and commercial fishing interests involved in the 2017 Sea Change plan process.

The Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill does not reflect the agreed plan. It’s a fraction of the original deal – a bunch of closures and to top it off, bottom trawling will still be permitted in the majority of the marine park. A rip-off if you ask me.

The health of the Hauraki Gulf is not improving, and establishing more HPAs is not the complete answer.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So, let’s try something new and fix the root causes – inadequate fisheries controls and too much land run-off.