Snapper levels in the Bay of Plenty are reduced to fishery collapse levels but nothing is being done about it, says Legasea advisor Trish Rea.

Legasea is a population-based advocacy group concerned with keeping fish stocks at a sustainable level for future generations.

The Bay of Plenty snapper fishery is at six per cent of original levels.

Trish's complaint follows a recently released Ministry of Primary Industries' assessment of the Snapper 1 fishery covering the Hauraki Gulf, eastern Northland and the Bay of Plenty which found stocks are well below the target level.

In particular Bay of Plenty snapper are below the 10 per cent ‘hard limit' of the natural biomass.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says a formal consultation process to discuss changes to regulations in the Snapper 1 area will begin next month. Until then, no decision will be made.

But Trish says something needs to be done now and suggests temporarily closing the fishery.

'It is considered collapsed and something needs to be done quickly, including closing the fishery.”

Trish believes the Bay of Plenty snapper estimates were merged with the other regions to disguise the seriousness of the situation and prevent the public need for strong action.

'They obviously didn't want to do that (close the fishery), so the ‘science' estimates for the Bay of Plenty have been amalgamated with the Hauraki Gulf, and now we come out with a happy little figure that is still not very good – but doesn't look as ugly as it did.”

The problem is compounded by tagging information showing juvenile snapper spawned in the Bay of Plenty, move to the Hauraki Gulf, she says.

'For snapper there's something really attractive about the Hauraki Gulf,” says Trish. 'It could be that the fish are moving out of the Bay of Plenty and into the Hauraki Gulf and that's why the Hauraki Gulf has got so many snapper.

'It seems to be the opposite of what happens to kahawai. The Bay of Plenty for kahawai is something we call a sink hole, all the kahawai really want to go there. They get smashed up by the purse seiners there, but they still go there.”

Trish says the Bay of Plenty region should be managed higher than everywhere else to make sure there's enough fish to catch.

'In an ideal world the Bay of Plenty is leaking fish all over the place, we need to manage it higher.

'But because Snapper 1 is one management stock, it's very hard to get effective management, even at a sub stock level.”

President of the Mount Sport Fishing Club Steve Penn says if recreational fishers must face quota cuts, so should commercial fishers.

'We come first, that's the Act,” says Steve. 'The minister first has to take into consideration the needs of Maori, and recreational fishers before setting the TACC (total allowable commercial catch).

'It's got us very concerned. It is a draft submission, but we anticipate the minister would be looking at slashing our recreational bag limits. We don't know to what extent, but we would be very concerned if he made any at all without putting up the evidence that the depletion is warranted.

'We would also be interested in making sure that he does it balanced, in other words, commercial also have to take a major cut.”

The Bay of Plenty has its own snapper nurseries and breeding populations and should not be locked in with the Auckland zone, says Steve.

'We should be looked at differently, treated differently. It could turn out to be to our detriment, we could be worse – or it could turn out that we are better. But it would be fair.

'We could then say we are not being judged by the overall effect on zone one, which doesn't really apply to us.”

Bay of Plenty snapper are under fishing pressure from an estimated 80,000 recreational fishers that come to the Western Bay from the Waikato and towns like Tokoroa, Cambridge Matamata, and Rotorua.

'That puts a lot of pressure on the Bay itself,” says Steve.

'We are always watching, guarding jealously our bag limits. We don't believe it should be oppressive. It should be fair all round.

'We're just a little bit worried by recent happenings where ministers have not been properly informed by their ministries. We would hate to see that happen again.”

The MPI data showed snapper numbers in Snapper 1 have increased by up to 70 per cent during the last 15-25 years, but are still only at about half of the level of their management target.

Current snapper stocks in the Hauraki Gulf and Eastern Northland are well below target. They are 24 per cent of natural biomass, below the agreed target of 40 per cent. The Bay of Plenty fishery is at six per cent of original levels.

The stock levels report will form the basis for management of the fishery from October 1. Nathan says options available include reducing bag limits and increasing minimum size for the recreational sector and reducing the commercial catch and stronger monitoring of commercial activities.

The Fisheries Act requires the MPI take steps to lift diminished stocks to a level to ensure long-term availability for future generations and ecosystem health.

Snapper 1 provides 70 per cent of the total commercial snapper catch and earns about $26 million in exports.

The commercial catch was lowered to 4500 tonnes in 1997 and bag and "legal size" limits were toughened for weekend fishers so the fishery could rebuild.

The recreational limit is nine fish, more than 27cm long.