Re: Forest & Bird is calling for the wider Hauraki Gulf to Bay of Plenty crayfishing area (known as CRA2) to be closed for three years to allow the species to start recovering.

Forest & Bird tell us the crayfish stocks in CRA2 are in danger of collapse. How was this decision arrived at? How was the survey done? Who did it?

Crayfish live in water and don't care whether it is two metres deep or 2000m deep. To do a survey of the crayfish stock the area would need to have been explored, counts done of the various species and all the data collated and checked for accuracy.

Was this done? What was the agency that did it and where has it been published?

Is this another minority flexing its authority in an unknown area?

Seventy per cent of the earth surface is covered in water, 95 per cent of which has not been explored, so where do they get the information to make sweeping statements of such scale?

D. Hardie, Paengaroa.