Rec fishers lose out while Sanford and co win

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The Daily Blog
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Source: Labour Party – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Rec fishers lose out while Sanford and co win

Big fishing companies are the winners and average Kiwi fishers the losers out of changes to snapper fishing limits and bag sizes that come into force today, Labour’s Fisheries spokesperson Damien O’Connor says.

“As always with National it’s their mates the big fish that win. It’s no different with snapper.

“From today rec fishers have to take home smaller bag sizes and throw back more fish because the size limit has increased.

“What’s changed for commercial fishers? Nothing. That’s because National is good mates with fishing companies, especially Sanford where National Party President Peter Goodfellow is a director.

“Labour wants to preserve our snapper fishery for future generations but in doing so we will put the interests of recreational fishers first,” Damien O’Connor says.

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The claims and opinions made in this statement are those of the release organisation and are not necessarily endorsed by, and are not necessarily those of, The Daily Blog. Also in no event shall The Daily Blog be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on the above release content.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The bag reduction most of us can live with. The size reduction penalises those who have no boats and fish from the shore, or those who have small boats under 3.5m and can’t safely get out very far.
    In other words low and modest income people.
    If you have a large boat and a big 4WD to tow and launch it, the size reduction doesn’t hurt so much.
    The fish stocks are a public resource – all NZers, even those of modest means should have a right to go fishing with a reasonable chance of success. This change undermines that.
    The National Party always looks after its own.

  2. Good to see Labour support the fishing public – a deafening silence from other parties. The change in size limit to 30cm for recreational fishing would be welcomed if the commercial boats also have a 30cm minimum, and small fish that are discarded survive.
    Part of last years snapper decision was to have 25% of all trawler voyages carry observers by last xmas, and cameras installed on other vessels. The public are waiting to hear the results to date. Did MPI meet the target? What have the observers observed? How many cameras are operational and what have they detected? How many vessels have ‘moved on’.
    The silence only fuels suspicion.

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