Meet the Ministrys new Chief Executive - Ministry of Fisheries

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6 TheBite APRIL 2008 Honorary fishery officers Protecting our recreational fisheries Bite editor Jim Flack hitched a lift with an honorary fishery officer for a day to see how these hard-working volunteers protect our fisheries. It’s the first day of summer and it’s a Saturday. The sky is clear, light winds and no significant swell. Fishers, divers and snorkellers are out in force. So are MFish’s honorary fishery officers (HFOs) – 166 hard-working volunteers who spend much of their spare time making sure fishers are aware of the regulations, inspecting catches and looking after our fisheries for future generations. I’m out patrolling with Kelvin O’Connor on Wellington’s south coast. Kelvin has been an HFO for four years and finds it a great way to relax after a busy week running his own construction company. “It’s not as stressful as you’d think, patrolling our recreational fisheries. Ninety five percent of people are happy to see you and appreciate the job you’re doing. The experiences you have, and the camaraderie with everyone in MFish is great.” There are four HFO vehicles out today covering Wellington and the Kapiti Coast between Wainuiomata and Waikanae. They met first thing in the morning to decide on the best strategy for the day’s patrolling. “We look at the wind, swell and tides and place our HFOs where the conditions are best suited for fishing,” Kelvin says. “Every day is different. We take that into account and we place ourselves where we think the fishers are going to be.” At morning meeting, the HFOs have divided the coast up between them and will be covering the boat ramps and as many fishing spots as they can. Wellington’s exposed rocky coast produces good paua and rock lobster, so lots of emphasis is placed on making sure fishers know the rules for these species and stick to them. HFOs are usually keen recreational fishers and have a very good understanding of where the fishing hot spots are. As we take our first drive around the area we are patrolling for the day, Kelvin points out the scallop beds, mussel rocks, popular surfcasting spots and many of the bays that are popular for paua and rock lobster. Kelvin stops and chats to people launching boats or donning wetsuits before a dive. He’s handing out plenty of brochures
and explaining the correct way to measure each species. He’s also sending the conservation message – “limit your catch, you don’t have to catch your limit. Leave some in the water for next time.” “Education is a big part of an HFOs job,” says Kelvin. While ignorance of the rules is not an excuse, we do all we can to make people aware of the rules, so they can land a legal catch. We speak at schools, holiday programmes and to interest groups about fishing rules and conservation tips for fishing, gathering and putting back any undersize catch.” The HFOs stay in radio contact throughout the day, ready to back one another up or re-deploy. “If one part of the coast is quiet, or if the weather packs up, we can move our HFO’s to where the action is.” The MFish Communications Centre means HFO’s can respond quickly to 0800 4 POACHER calls (0800 476 224). “The 0800 4 POACHER number is so important. People hate seeing our fisheries getting ripped off. The number gives people a chance to do something about it and gives fishery officers and HFOs a great chance of catching poachers.” “I got an 0800 4 POACHER call one day, saying that there was a bloke getting out of the water with an onion sack of full of paua. I got there in time to catch up with him. It turned out he had three onion sacks with 207 paua, most of them undersize. It makes a huge difference getting that type of information.” By early afternoon boats are starting to come back to the ramps and divers are getting out of the water. Most people are more than happy to let Kelvin inspect their catch, particularly two fishers who have a haul of 10 hapuka between them. “The fishing rules are very fair. I have no problems with enforcing them. Five häpuka per person per day is a lot of fish.” We talk to a snorkeller who has a mixed bag of kina and paua. It turns out the last time Kelvin spoke to this fisher, he had taken undersize paua. As a result he received a $250 infringement notice in the mail. This time the snorkeller is within the daily bag limit for both species, and the paua are all 125mm or over. Both he and Kelvin are very pleased about this. “That guy learnt from his mistake, it’s good to see.” Not everyone played by the rules that day though. Later on Kelvin talks to a guy with 47 paua (the daily bag limit is 10), 41 of them undersize. Another has 27 tiny paua, the largest being 40mm. A spear-fisher has two undersize blue cod and a snorkeller has an undersize female rock lobster. I head home to see the family and Kelvin stays out on the coast until almost dark, talking to people and making sure they did the right thing by the fishery that day. MFish HFO co-ordinator for the Wellington compliance district Dianne Manning says HFOs are a very important part of the fisheries compliance effort for the district. “Our HFOs are knowledgeable and professional and take their fisheries protection work very seriously. They educate thousands of people every year about fishing rules and find hundreds of illegal catches, and that’s just in Wellington. They are a vital part of the team.” hFO FACTS • 166 HFOs cover from North Cape to Stewart Island (as at 30 November 2007) • HFOs work primarily with recreational fishers, but also provide useful information on black market fishing and at times help fulltime fishery officers with surveillance when required • HFOs have all the powers of a fulltime fishery officer, except the power of arrest • There are 150 fulltime warranted fishery officers in the 11 compliance districts from Northland to Southland. • Most compliance districts have an HFO coordinator who is a fulltime fishery officer. The coordinator ensures the HFO’s are provided with all necessary resources to conduct their duties. APRIL 2008 TheBite 7
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Meet the Ministrys new Chief Executive - Ministry of Fisheries

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