Bay of Plenty residents – along with those nationwide – are being asked to get behind LegaSea in taking its campaign to protect recreational access to crayfish and scallops to the ministerial advisory group.

The advocacy arm of the New Zealand Sports Fishing Council this week began calling for the public to electronically ‘sign' letters on its website to support its campaign.

With recent Ministry of Primary Industries' proposals to manage crayfish and scallops in selected regional fisheries, LegaSea supporters and New Zealand Sport Fishing Council affiliated clubs are particularly concerned about long-term crayfish depletion in the Hauraki Gulf/Bay of Plenty fishery CRA2 and the collapsed scallop fishery at the South Island's tip.

Campaign coordinator Adam El-Agez says New Zealanders are being levered out of access to the seafood delicacies because commercial and export priorities are considered ahead of public interests in deciding catch levels.

Commercial interests have for years dominated the advisory body to the Minister, the National Rock Lobster Management Group, says Adam, who believes this group proposes the Minister maintains CRA2 at a level that produces an average catch rate of 410 grams per pot-lift for the next 20 years.

In comparison, catch rates in adjoining areas are much higher – 1.7kg per pot-lift in Northland (CRA1), and 2.45kg on the East Coast (CRA3).

CRA2 is already the most depleted stock in New Zealand, according to LegaSea, which points to commercial fishing efforts increasing from 250,000 pot-lifts in 1999 to 530,000 pot-lifts annually in 2012 for the same catch: 230 tonnes.

At this stage there is no proposed reduction to the annual recreational allowance, says Adam, who says LegaSea's concern is public fishers are being denied reasonable access to crayfish due to low abundance. The public is only catching about 28 per cent of their entitlement in CRA2.

'This is just another symptom of a failing quota management system,” says Adam.

'Last year Nathan Guy, the Minister for Primary Industries, continued to support the loophole that allows commercial operators to catch undersized crayfish around the Gisborne coast – a blatant tool for denying the public catch so they can be exported to China.

'This year they seem intent on keeping the public in the Hauraki/BOP area scraping over the last few refugees of a collapsed fishery.”

As result, Adam says LegaSea is campaigning against on-going management inequities.

NZ Sport Fishing Council president Mark Connor says the management proposals are too little too late.

'The public want real crayfish, not paper ones,” says Mark.

'Crayfish are an important species in the coastal ecosystem and highly valued by customary and recreational fishers.”

Mark, who is based in Canterbury, also shares on-going concerns for the scallop fishery in Tasman and Golden bays.

'This scallop fishery was once praised as a shining example of industry self – management. It has collapsed.”

Last year the Bays were closed to commercial dredging by voluntary agreement, but the quota remained at 747 tonnes of scallop meat.

The commercial fishing effort has now shifted into the fragile and extremely significant recreational areas of the Marlborough Sounds, says Adam.

'The industry and Ministry call this shared pain, shared gain. In reality it's just the same old story of public pain for commercial gain.”

The Ministry proposed a reduction in scallop quota to 46 tonne, but after pressure from the fishing industry released a late alternative of 416 tonne,” says Mark.

'Yet again the Ministry and Minister are being pressured into giving priority to commercial economic considerations over the sustainability of the stock and the public interest.

'If the scallop 7 stock is less than 10 per cent of the un-fished population, then it should be closed according to the Ministry's own policy.”

LegaSea is also encouraging people nationwide to have a say and to support their submission using a simple online tool at: www.legasea.co.nz/crayscallop

There, people can electronically ‘sign' a letter to the Minister and support the LegaSea's crayfish and scallop submissions.