Keith Mawson from Egmont Seafoods in New Plymouth, has been fishing on the North Island's West Coast for well over 30 years. This week he shares his thoughts on the recovery of the snapper fishery, a topic close to his heart.
The rebuild in the snapper fish stocks around the inshore New Zealand coastline has been a success story, especially on the west coast of the North Island.
We have gone from unfettered access in the 70's when catch landings exceeded 5,000 tonnes, to the late 90's when the Minister of Fisheries decided to set a 10 year rebuild strategy, setting the TAC (Total Allowable Catch) at 2,060 tonnes with an allowance for commercial of 1,500t, recreational of 360t, customary 50t and other mortality 150t. In response to a new stock assessment in 2005 the commercial TACC was reduced to 1,300t and allowances for other sectors were reduced.
The fishery rebounded quickly from 2005, with assessments showing that the SNA8 fish stock had increased five fold by 2020 and exceeded the stock harvest strategy target of 40% B₀ (where B₀ is the initial biomass) and was in fact closer to 60% B₀ (an increase from 8-12% of B₀ to 60% of B₀ over the past 16 years). The TAC was reviewed again in 2021 with Minister Parker increasing the recreational allowance to 1,205t from 360t, commercial from 1,300t to 1,600t, customary 100t and other mortality 160t. The commercial increase was the most conservative of the options proposed and not surprisingly the latest assessments and modelling is showing that the biomass has continued to increase by 30% since the 2021 assessments.
The recovery of this fishery is due to excellent recruitment through the period from 2015-2019 plus the constrained commercial catch and harvest since 2005. The snapper fishery is now in fantastic health, providing great fishing for the recreational sector along the North Island's west coast. The fish are in great condition and fishers can catch a good range of fish from mature adults weighing up to 12kg to pannies suitable for cooking whole.
The abundance and health of the snapper fishery off the west coast north island has however created issues for the commercial operators where they are having to adjust gear and fish in areas to avoid catching snapper, as there is not enough ACE (Annual Catch Entitlement) available to cover catch. Snapper has become a bycatch and choke species where the gear adjustments and lack of snapper ACE is restricting fishers' ability to target and catch other species such as gurnard, John Dory, trevally and others.
The snapper TAC & TACC are now being reviewed in the 2024 sustainability round and a decision will be made by the Minister of Oceans & Fisheries before the start of the new fishing year on the 1st October. We are expecting and hoping for a large increase in the TACC for SNA8, because the science supports increased catch and harvest. Increased access will provide a great opportunity for the commercial operators to target other species and increase the volume of fish that they can harvest in a trip, making it more economic and viable. If this happens, we will probably see some adjustment in the price of ACE and also the selling price of snapper, although this also depends on the recovery in the local economy and export markets. Fishers have been operating in a constrained environment for many years as the fishery has improved, and this is an opportunity for them and the public to see the benefits and rewards of effective fisheries management, although at times conservative.
For isolated regions like Taranaki that have been impacted by fishing restrictions for protection of Maui dolphins (which we understand) the upcoming decision offers the potential for some relief for local operators and the opportunity for increased activity and fish being landed regionally.
A healthy fishery improves the relationship that the commercial sector has with other user groups, especially the recreational sector, and we look forward to being able grow and enhance the supply of locally caught affordable fish to the Taranaki community and our other customers around NZ and offshore.
NOTE: TACC levels can go up and down in response to changes in the fishery, and we have no specific indication from the Ministry or Minister about which way the next decision will go.
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