Who would trust the Ministry for Primary Industries to oversee or make any sensible judgements on our snapper fisheries when they can't even get their own
name and address right for meat exports.
Wind back the clock to when it was called the grandiose Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Fisheries and lump them both together.
Because a change of name cannot cover up an abysmal record of failure and incompetence.
Successive governments have presided over shocking decisions for decades and are directly responsible for the declining state of our fishery, not only snapper but many other species.
Under their stewardship MAF have allowed private enterprise to decimate orange
roughy on the Chatham Rise and reduced huge areas like Tasman Bay to a
barren wasteland from what was once a fishing paradise.
The collapse of prime fishing grounds and unique priceless species are being lost to overseas interests under the banner of 'joint venture”, a fancy name for rape and pillage by foreigners in return for political brownie points and bugger all else.
Shark finning?
All okay with them; undersized fish sold through iwi-owned outlets, yep all good; sale of critically endangered whitebait from the roadside, go for it; and the crowning glory must be the flogging of our precious kahawai to Australia for cray bait.
Commercial vandalism at its worst. Add to all this the issuing of licences to strip inland waterways such as Tauranga Harbour of weed-eating parore which ends up as cat food is tantamount to a criminal act.
The present state of our fisheries is nothing less than a testament to the ignorance and incompetence of the people we have entrusted to care for it.
Now, when faced with a percieved threat
to future snapper stocks, what is their knee-jerk reaction?
Simply penalise reccreational fishers by slashing bag limits to the ridiculous number of three and increasing the size limit, both ideas costly, punitive and unnecessary.
All we have to do is close the season for 30 days at the height of spawning and the snapper stocks will take care of themselves.
I am sure all stakeholders could live with this little pain for a long term gain.

Kevin Molloy, Omokoroa.