LegaSea are asking their supporters to object to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill due to concern’s about displacement.
“We do not believe the proposed protection measures go far enough to restore fish abundance and biodiversity in the Hauraki Gulf. Marine protection and fisheries management controls need to go hand-in-hand, otherwise all we will do is shift current fishing effort into our neighbour’s waters. We want 100% of the Hauraki Gulf seafloor protected from destructive, mobile fishing methods including bottom trawling, Danish seining and dredging. And, we want Ahu Moana, a joint iwi/hapū and community driven solution to resolve local depletion issues.” (Full email published here).
If we forget about the many non-fishing benefits of marine protection, then also forget about the fisheries benefits of marine protection (nursery and spillover) then forget about the fisheries plan which aims to rebuild stocks including Ahua Moana we are left with LegSea’s naïve argument over a limited amount of fish. Does it stand up?
No, the recreational losses for all species fished in the HPAs total 293 tonnes, the proposed commercial reductions from the corridors will total between 632-1017 tonnes.
Update January 2024. Marine scientists at the University of Auckland have done some excellent work looking at the displacement argument.
Math + references:
Calculating the weight of recreational catch lost to HPAs
Recreational fishers harvested 2,068 tonnes of snapper from the HGMP in 2017/18 fishing year. 9.58% of the recreational fishing effort is in the proposed High Protection Areas. The HPAs will reduce recreational fisheries catch of snapper by 198 tonnes.
Recreational fishers harvested 517 tonnes of kahawai from the HGMP in 2017/18 fishing year. 9.58% of the recreational fishing effort is in the proposed High Protection Areas. The HPAs will reduce recreational fisheries catch of kahawai by 50 tonnes.
These two species represent 82% of the fish (by weight) caught in the Gulf in the 2017/18 fishing year.
– https://gulfjournal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/State-of-our-Gulf-2020.pdf
Recreational catch in the HPAs for the 2017/18 fishing year = 248 + 18% (45) = 293 tonnes.
Calculating the weight of commercial catch lost to trawl corridors
Option 1 would result in an estimated reduction in landings of approximately 632 tonnes of fish per year. Option 4 would result in an estimated reduction in landings of approximately 1017 tonnes of fish per year.