Wayne Bicknell and Rick Burch have been friends since the 1980s, when Rick emigrated to New Zealand from the United Kingdom. It was their love of surfing that brought them together, and while from different fishing worlds, they've remained close friends over the years.
Rick is the owner and Skipper of Nancy Glen II and has been commercial fishing since 1967. He's the go-to locally for commercial fishers, and is also a FirstMate Navigator for Napier and Gisborne. Wayne is an avid recreational fisher, and one of the go-to's for recreational fishers in the area. He's also a board member of LegaSea Hawke's Bay, a subbranch of LegaSea and outreach arm of the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council. Both Rick and Wayne are members of the Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club Inc.
As you would imagine, these two have had many a heated discussion around the dinner table over the years (which apparently p...es everyone off) but their friendship is what helped make a voluntary agreement between commercial and recreational sectors in Hawke's Bay a success.
This past summer marked eight years of the voluntary agreement to close an area off the coast of the Hawke's Bay to commercial fishing over the summer months. It has transformed the once very tense relationship between commercial and recreational fishing sectors in the region.
The agreement between the Napier Fishermen's Association, Seafood New Zealand's Area 2 Committee and LegaSea Hawke's Bay, sees commercial fishers pause fishing in an area off the coast of Hawke's Bay (called the Springs Box) from the start of December through to the end of February.
The Springs Box covers roughly 230 square kilometres of ocean and is east of Napier Port and north of Cape Kidnappers. According to Wayne, for recreational boats, "it's about half an hour steaming. Nice and easy to get the kids out there".
So, how did this agreement come to be? Rick says the initial agreement came out of meetings organised by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to "help calm the farm" following a series of incidents between commercial and recreational fishers.
The meetings were attended by LegaSea Hawke's Bay, 15 fishers, Seafood New Zealand Inshore Council (formerly Fisheries Inshore New Zealand), Te Ohu Kaimoana, and a number of local seafood companies.
"There were around 22 people all up. At the start, it was a bit fiery. It took about six months for things to settle," says Rick. "From there, we started working on picking the lowhanging fruit first. Things we agreed on."
One of the things both sides agreed upon was the evidence they had seen with their own eyes that snapper and gurnard spawn out in the Springs Box area in December and January.
"And so that's when we agreed we needed to do something to protect that area while it's spawning," says Wayne. "So, we started to get this voluntary arrangement going, drawing up the box area together." Rick says the map took a bit of finessing as commercial fishers soon realised it was a little too close to Cape Kidnappers, which was a safety concern.
"If a southerly hit, we need somewhere to swing into safely to pull our nets on board. So, we shifted it north by a few miles to give us a bit more room."
The hard work to get it right paid off, as the Springs Box has remained largely unchanged ever since, and this voluntary arrangement has become so widely accepted by all parties, little negotiation is needed when the agreement
is revisited each year.
Rick says one of the biggest positives that's emerged is more respect for commercial fishers. "The agreement has really helped improve the relationship we (commercial fishers) have with not just LegaSea Hawke's Bay, but with the wider public."
On the recreational side, while the Springs Box is closed to commercial fishers, the Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club keeps a close eye on what comes out of the area via their Colin Murray Ramp survey.
"Every fishing contest the club has, we ask all the fishers to fill the survey form out and pass it to us as they come up the boat ramp," says Wayne. "There is a box they need to tick to say if their catch has come out of the Springs Box area."
Seafood New Zealand Chief Executive Dr Jeremy Helson who, in his former role as Chief Executive of FisheriesInshore New Zealand, was part of the early discussions around this agreement, says he is pleased to see the arrangement has continued.
"Hawke's Bay really has something special here. This local initiative is an excellent and too-rare example of the compromise and collaboration possible between competing sectors. It would be great to see this happening
in other parts of Aotearoa."
Meanwhile. for Rick and Wayne, while arguments still do happen from time-to-time, both agree that the Bay has got to be looked after, and it makes the best sense to be doing it together. They hope the agreement will continue for many years to come.
