Former consultant warns of threat to N.Z. snapper

Press, 28 January 1988, Page 2

Former consultant warns of threat to N.Z. snapper

New Zealand snapper will be wiped out unless fishing restrictions are changed and snapper farms set up, according to a Picton man. The Romans farmed snapper to feed their armies 2000 years ago, said Mr Peter Rocco. Why could it not be done in the computer age in New Zealand? Mr Rocco saw snapper eradicated in other parts of the world and for several years has been publicly warning of the threats of over-fishing in Golden Bay and Tasman Bay.

He had many years experience in the fishing industry in Europe and studied a close relative of the snapper in the Adriatic Sea. He worked as a fishing consultant for Sealord, in Nelson, when he immigrated to New Zealand in 1977.

In the summer of 197778 up to 2625 tonnes of spawning snapper was recorded in Tasman Bay by an aerial fish spotter. In the same season 1300 tonnes of snapper was caught, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries statistics. A temporary quota of 1500 tonnes was agreed part way through the 1978-79 season. The catch that season was 1750 tonnes. Both Mr Rocco and the pilot who was spotting the fish, Mr Derrick Catley, said that the fishermen flocked to the site when the spawning fish were found. By 1981-82, 40 tonnes of snapper was seen by air in four days. The technical officer for MAFFish in Nelson, Mr Kim Drummond, said data from aerial sightings could not be used to determine snapper stock

size. However, the information provided by commercial pilots showed that the snapper had not only steadily decreased in size and frequency but also in school size, he said. The total allowable catch for Tasman Bay is now 250 tonnes, with a 100 tonnes quota within a boundary line from Adele Island to Peping Island. Mr Rocco said the species should not be fished during spawning — in December and January. His theory is that the fish move in circles around Tasman Bay and spend two-thirds of their time spawning outside the present fishing restriction line. Mr Rocco wants the fishing boundary extended to cover the whole of the Tasman Bay during spawning. The larvae of the fish should then be caught and

used to farm them. Mr Rocco, now a Blenheim restaurant owner, has tried to get support to gather the larvae and farm them himself. Snapper was critical to the fish industry, he said. The problems were not limited to the South Island. The North Island snapper was also disappearing quickly. He said that mistakes had been made in New Zealand because MAFFish had not learnt from the overseas disasters and they continued to research what was happening instead of doing something about the problem. Mr Drummond said he disagreed with Mr Rocco’s theory. “We can’t close them down from fishing activity just to be on the safe side.”