Outdoor Council wary on Government’s Fishing Parks

The Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations New Zealand (CORANZ) has called for a “careful measured response" to a Government proposal for recreational fishing parks.

With New Zealand's marine environment often battlefield of competing interests and values, the Government's proposed new Marine Protected Areas (MPA) legislation plans to include Recreational Fishing Parks in the Hauraki Gulf and the Marlborough Sounds wherein commercial fishing will be prohibited.

Cautious about the proposal, CORANZ has said while recreational zones were - on the surface - commendable there were too many unanswered questions.

CORANZ co-Chairman Bill Benfield stated "there are too many potential fish-hooks there."

Benfield noted that in the Marlborough Sounds the recreational fishing public had endured draconian rules that discriminated against the public while favouring commercial fishers.

He added that a park with defined boundaries did not affect fish movement as most species were migratory especially at spawning time and there would be no guarantee that fish moving beyond the reserve would not be plundered particularly by corporate purse seiners.

Benfield stated “recreational hunting areas were tried and it ended up a few small areas reserved for recreational while the main resource was plundered.

"In addition poaching of recreational hunting areas was rife. We don’t want a repeat of this with fishing.”

Image courtesy of Marlborough Sounds Fishing.

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