[Miliwolf]

There is a wealth of information on the fisheries website, one page which is worth same time it the commercial catch records of different species.

http://fs.fish.govt.nz/Page.aspx?pk=6&tk=97

I have just been looking at the reported Snapper catch from the South-East management area, which is basically the east coast south of the Clarence river. The reported catch is very low, the highest year was 2007 when 102kg was landed. So far for 2012 none has been landed, but that might be a data input issue.

Whats more interesting, could be the ‘reproted catch by month graph’, which shows most Snapper is caught between November and April, but most being caught in April and November (although the graphs are a bit wonky looking at times). Trevally show a similar pattern. .

Rig and elephant fish is also worth a look, when the 2011 data is complete, we would get to see what impact the setnet and inshore trawling ban had upon Moki, Rig and Elephant fish numbers.

[fishforpot]

Ive noticed the fish numbers growing from year to year since the ban ….school sharks have been rather thin over the last 2-3 years tho

Stocks of rig and elephant fish are being hammered down here , and its getting worse every year ….those damn torpedos are to blame ……
Ive seen a couple of guys thrashing them at Spencers park , maybe a dozen rig on 1 haul , had already filleted one bunch , and had the thing out again when I left ……all small rig 3-4lb and they do it regularly ….someone told me there are 10 different torpedos giving it the shits regularly at that one beach alone … beaches north of the waimac have been getting hammered to ……and they are now working birdlings flat – rakia area …..
I heard of 2 guys getting 23 elephants in 2 sets …..I know a guy who caught 13 in a set , weekend before last ….all large cows — there’s just no need to take that much fish , unless you have a buyer for it ….
Oh lets not forget the 2 blokes thrashing the coopers area late last year ….no doubt they are still making a killing somewhere along the coast ….

Nets have gone , but the greedy fishos are still making $$$ , and it has to stop

[Duckman]

yeah but there’s a daily limit on ele’s and rig, they need to be reported if they are taking more than the daily limits

[Miliwolf]

The 2009 and 2010 catch records should show the impact of the set net bans on the commercial harvest. (I did not realized it has been banned for so long, time really flies)

While I have little time for torpedoes, and the poaching behavior same users partake in they still take a fraction compared with the commercial take. For comparison, 1,000,000kg of elephant fish are caught each year by commercial anglers in the management area off the South Island East Coast. How many kg would the torpedoes anglers take in one year?

For Rig, the 2009 and 2010 takes were slightly lower then the previous 5 years. Although all years have been under the TACC.
For Elephant fish, 2009 and 2010 were nearly record catches, both above the TACC. Only 2008 had a larger catch. All years they have meet or exceeded the TACC.
For Blue Moki, 2009 and 2010 had high takes. 2010 was in fact equal best with 2008.
For Butterfish, 2009 and 2010 are fairly normal years.

So there has not been a reduction in commercial take since the set net, and inshore trawling ban. What the numbers does not show is wither other areas are being hit harder, or wither more effort is being spent to catch the same number of fish.

[yellowfin]

check out blue moki figures for 2012 comm catch well down cos of the net ban, these fish have to be making a big comeback !

[smokin’ joe]

Duckman

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