FISHING-OUT FEARED

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31770, 29 August 1968, Page 12

FISHING-OUT FEARED

The Government should introduce regulations to limit crayfishing off the Chatham Islands now, said the president of the New Zealand Federated Fishermen’s Association (Mr D. J. Threadwell, of Lyttelton) yesterday.

Poor returns from fishing off the mainland meant that more than 200 boats were on the crayfish grounds at the Chathams, he said. Because they were the handiest grounds, Petre Bay and Han son Bay had practically been fished out.

“The quantity of crayfish taken from the Chathams grounds in 1967 was double that in 1966. I expect there will again be a substantial increase in the quantity and value of crayfish taken this year, although the average return a boat may be down.

“But unless the number of boats is limited or closed seasons established, now, the Chathams bonanza will quickly be over. I do not think the grounds will ever be fished out, but the fishing will become uneconomic unless conservation measures are taken now,” Mr Threadwell said. Mr Threadwell said he took his boat, the Theseus, to the Chathams this year because he was “going broke" fishing from Lyttelton. The fishing grounds had all been overfished since the fishing industry bad been delicensed. “The same thing will happen at the Chathams unless fishing is controlled.” Mr Threadwell is supported by Mr S. J. S. Barker, a Hawarden farmer and Chathams Islands landowner, who lias made several representations to the Government on the “urgent need” for crayfish conservation regulations. “It almost seems that the Government is interested only

in geting as much overseas exchange as possible from Chatham Islands crayfish tails now, and letting the future go to hang,” Mr Barker said.

The Pitt Island crayfish ground was practically fished out, as well as Petre Bay and Hanson Bay. The Chatham Islanders were getting very little out of the industry. The export levy on wool paid by Chatham Islands farmers to the Chatham Islands County Council was $39 a ton. The levy on crayfish was $8 a ton, but a ton of crayfish brought more than 12 times as much as a ton of wool in overseas exchange. “I am not a fisherman, but a farmer has to think of conservation as well,” Mr Barker said. “I do not grow 10 consecutive crops of wheat on the land because I know the land will be worthless. The fishermen are harvesting the sea, and they have to think of future crops.” A report on crayfish by the New Zealand Fishing Industry Board, issued on September 30 last year, after a committee had visited the Chatham Islands and a Western Australia crayfishery, emphasised that conservation was needed at the Chathams, and recommended closed seasons.

A crayfish conference, called by the Marine Department, was held in Wellington earlier this year. The Minister of Marine (Mr Scott) said that he would not introduce regulations until he had the minutes and recommendations from the conference; he would not issue regulations without consulting the industry; and he would not issue regulations until he had been to the Chatham Islands. Mr Scott has not visited the Chathams since becoming Minister of Marine five years ago.