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When the water cools, Go Deeper with Johnny Tightlines - pg 5

Farewell Ace safe hunting pg 5 SEPTEMBER 2026 Issue 252

Find us online at thefishingpaper.co.nz • A bowhunting "Goose" gets a bonus billy - pg 3

• Marlborough Blue Cod - closed season - don't forget - pg 4 • Norm has had the flu and that has kept him locked inside thinking - pg 6 • Firearms Reform - Did you have your say? - pg 9

THE FISHING PAPER & HUNTING NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026

Good night and Goodbye

Red deer. Five of them, way out in the middle of the block. It’s the middle of the day too. Regardless of the hour, it must be deer o’clock ‘cos they’re making like a Hunting & Fishing advert and they’re “out there, doing it”.

Only days ago, a diligent team of silviculture workers had traversed the same hillside, four metres apart and stopping every few strides - then they carefully planted a little pine tree - each one vertical, roots down, buried past the collar, firmed and farewelled. Row upon contoured row of dark green morsels – Chupa Chups for deer, goats and possums. I back pedal and get gone, out of sight and out of mind if you happen to be a tree munching red hind. Then it’s a wide cast in the Hilux - going the extra mile and doing it in style. Then, on foot, I’m like a welltrained huntaway dog. I ‘getaway back’, and then I ‘get in behind’ - super stealth - wind in my favour, sun at my back. Soon enough I furtively peek over the ridge where the deer had stood, I glance left and right, and centre. The deer are gone. Their droppings, still warm, are a hint of what these crafty cervines think of me and my tactics. If I were to make like an African tracker I reckon there’d be a whiff of pine needle in those droppings. There’s Chupa Chup wrappers strewn about too – the good bits chewed down to the stick. The walk back to the Hilux is long, I fall over my bottom lip often. Kip the Kelpie is in the dog box, I hear her whining above the ‘dammits’ and ‘feckits’ rattling around in my head. Much later I have goats focused in my binoculars. They are feeding midway down a vee shaped clearing. My sea-loving

father would have likened the clearing to the hull of an oceangoing yacht - deep vee and long keel. The last of the day’s sun warms the area before winter’s chill plunges temperatures back below zero. This is my chance to get Kip amongst it - to see if she has finally learned to find and bail my idea of target species.

Kip will chase anything - if it is a fly, or it flies, runs or drives, she’ll chase it - she is certainly not species specific. In hot pursuit she will trail bark, her high-pitched coyote cackle cranking up the volume through ‘yippee and yahoo’ till peaking at ‘goodnight and goodbye’. And then the majestic Red will be forever gone. Higher above,

He rises. He flees. Gone. I could cry. When Kip comes back, happy and proud, I make like Zoe Hobbs and sprint up to mid-vee in the clearing. The super-fresh goat sign is there, prints, billy goat stench, soft black pelletised faeces. My future goat dog does a couple of half-hearted laps then

We scurry up through the trees below the clearing, breeze descending, sun departing, dew already beginning to settle. Kip’s nose is full of scents, but I manage to keep her at heel. When the grass is near, and we can see ahead, there is another creature at the bottom of the vee and my heart sinks. Grazing with his pale tail patch directly towards me is a red stag. I don’t want a stag. I want a goat. I want Kip to see a goat, chase it, turn it, then stand off and bail. For months now I have been working towards this goal. We’re nearly there, but not quite, I don’t have a goat dog yet. Yet! I slump into a clump of coarse grass, flummoxed

the goats will be gone too. As will the training opportunity. The stag grazes with intent. His antlers, what I can see of them, are impressive. They are wider than his shoulders and he is a big fella. As I sit, quiet and still, my little red dog leans against my shoulder, fixing her gaze where I fix mine. She drops into a catlike crawl when she sees what I see. I catch her and hold her tight before firmly placing her behind me. Still unawares, the feeding deer raises his tail and drops a soft green turd. There is a theme going on here! I eventually lose my composure and the will to refrain. That antler spread! Those multi-tined tops! When the big fella eventually gives me a quartering-away shot, I take it. He crashes over backwards but quickly attempts to regain his feet. Normally a second shot would ensure a quick hoorah, but something prevents that option today. That something resembles a canine shaped missile. It is trail barking at full noise, one screeching yap melding seamlessly with the next and the next. It rushes upon the stag, encouraging him to rise and flee.

comes back. I do cry. I owe it to the stag to go back and find him now - I start from scratch and I track him one step at a time – slowly - painstakingly. There’s no blood trail, just big prints which eventually peter out. Yup, gone. The walk of shame back towards the truck, head low, shoulders drooped. But then the quiet of dusk is full of trail barking and echoes of trail barking. Then a bail. A full-blown aggressive bail. Kip has found the wounded stag. Finally, I can put an end to all this nonsense. Just weeks later, another winter’s evening at home, Kip sneaks away in pursuit of another of her highly preferred quarry – them of the wheeled variety. Did she do the canine missile and throw herself upon it? Did she try to stop it and bail it? Or did she coyote cackle with increasing volume urging it to flee – ‘yahoo and yippee’. I know not how, or who, or why, but whatever happened, Kip won’t do it again. This time her quarry struck back, and Kip’s life journey ended with ‘goodnight and goodbye’.

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“The deer was right there when we started this stalk an hour ago” “How the hell did that goat know to look this way?” “60 metres downhill, so close but too far for this boy!” These 3 scenarios had all played out the previous weekend whilst hunting a good size loop of some handy public land. Now, a week later we were looking over a gully in a block observing the movements of 3 red deer and a pig, weighing our options. Opting to continue up the spur, gaining height before the air started to rise we spot a small mob of goats hanging out in the morning sun. The deer and pig instantly become a distant memory – are you even a bowhunter from Marlborough if you pass on an opportunity to shoot a goat?! Dropping my day pack and sidling up the opposite side of the spur to the goats I sneak through a low saddle, keeping a bushy manuka between me and them. At times like this I often think it would be good to be a foot shorter than I am! Just as I reach the bush an unseen goat spooks from the other side of it, taking the mob with it. Stink!! Oh well, push the intrusive thought that these goats would have been dead 150m ago if I’d had a rifle out of my mind, pick up my pack and we carry on. Cresting a small rise, a fair way up the spur now, there’s another 3 goats feeding amongst the scattered scrub. Cue the same routine as half an hour ago. Gaining elevation to put the daytime thermal in my favour I move quietly across the face, getting to about 15 metres from the small bush they are feeding below. Patiently I wait, sight set, arrow nocked. A small goat pokes around the side of the bush, has a look in my direction and carries on feeding. This isn’t the one I’m looking for, it must have bedded down. I move slightly to my right and wait, eventually a larger black goat moves out from under the scrub and walks into the open. I draw, the goat still moving. A quiet “MEH” from Beno on the sideline stops it. Quickly assessing the angle of the hard quartering away shot I pick the path I’d like the arrow to take and to my surprise the shot breaks

The Bonus Billy pretty cleanly.

A full pass through of the pump station means this nanny only just makes it over the spur before expiring-Stoked! This is the first

animal I’ve shot in a couple of months so I’m rapt with a clean kill. Making the call to cut through the heads of a couple of rocky gullies heading for the main ridge we bump a small mob out of the matagouri. They move off, offering no opportunities. Stopping briefly we can hear movement in the scrub some 40 metres below. Sneaking down to investigate we find 2 billys, completely unaware of our presence or the fact that their mates have gapped it. Preparing for the possibility of a shot we wait, watching the scrub. With little warning one of the

Issue 252 3 Goose

goats suddenly emerges from the bushes to be full broadside at 20 metres, a fatal mistake with a fixed blade broadhead attached to a reasonable length of carbon fibre

making short work of him. The “Bonus Billy”. If you’ve followed this yarn till here you’re probably wondering “Why a story about hunting goats?” Well, once you carry a bow around the hills the humble goat suddenly becomes a very worthy target as sometimes getting super close to them isn’t too easy. After a bit of a snack and some discussion about the mornings events we wander the ridge above the main valley. Deciding on a ridge to drop down for the return journey we make our way slowly, glassing as we go. A mob of goats off the end of a steep spur provide another chance and we manage to get

right amongst them, bagging 2 more with the others disappearing in all directions. We wait out the last of the daylight hoping to see a pig but nothing shows, just a couple of deer on the far side of the valley. A pleasant walk out down the valley back to the ute rounds out a great day, pumped to have bagged a few goats, learned some stuff and had a poke around a bit of the province I hadn’t seen before with some good company. Thinking about it, it’s hard to believe that only a week back success had been hard to come by despite good opportunities presenting themselves. I guess that’s all part of the hunting roller coaster ride that keeps us coming back for more right?

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THE FISHING PAPER & HUNTING NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026

Marlborough blue cod closed season has begun

The blue cod seasonal closure for the Marlborough Sounds area has started, with no blue cod take allowed until 11 January 2027.

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“An annual closure has been in place for the fishery since 2011 and was extended in length last year,” says Emma Taylor, Director Fisheries Management at Fisheries New Zealand. “It provides an important tool to reduce fishing pressure, which reaches its peak during the summer months, and supports the sustainability of the popular fishery. “Fishing for other species in the Marlborough Sounds remains open during the blue cod closure, so it’s important that fishers follow best practice to ensure they are targeting other species and staying away from blue cod habitat. There are also best practice handling tips people can follow to give any accidentally caught blue cod the best chance of survival when returning them to the water.” Fishers can also support an important piece of ongoing research by participating in a project on the survival rate of blue cod returned to the sea in the Marlborough Sounds area. Fishers report that the mortality of returned cod is very high and consequently these fish should have been next year's fishery. This research, commissioned by Fisheries New Zealand and being conducted by Earth Sciences NZ, is being run from May 2026 to April 2027 to capture seasonal patterns in fishing activity. While fishers should not target blue cod during the closed period, if you do inadvertently catch one, you can help with this research by recording details about the capture and release of the fish. This includes information such as fish length, capture depth, hook location, whether the fish was bleeding, whether it floated, swam away on release, or was eaten by a shag (or other predator). This data can be recorded using the Citizen Science App (available on iOS or Android), or by getting paper forms at Marlborough fishing shops or Waikawa, Picton and Havelock boat ramps when staff are present, which will be most mornings on good weather fishing days. “We also have a range of tips from experienced fishers around the country on how they are innovating to help improve the odds of blue cod surviving release, including how to avoid

catching undersized fish, predation from seabirds, and reducing damage to fish from handling,” Ms Taylor says. “These tips are valuable all year round, as surveys show that up to 70 percent of blue cod caught by private boats are released, and a high proportion of fish in the Marlborough Sounds are undersized. “By following best practice, you’re doing your part to help ensure the survival of these fish so they can continue to contribute to the longerterm productivity of the fishery.” The fishery will reopen on 11 January 2027.

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When the Water Cools, Go Deeper

Winter is often seen as the toughest time of year to target our favourite sportfish. As sea temperatures drop, fish become less active and generally hold much deeper, meaning you’ll need to work harder to find them. But that’s exactly what makes winter fishing so rewarding. If you’re prepared to put in the effort, fish the right areas, and spend time working your jigs through the deeper water, you’ll often be rewarded with some of the best-conditioned fish of the entire year. Kingfish are thick

Issue 252 5 Johnny Tightlines

across the shoulders, snapper are solid, and every bite feels earned. One of the biggest keys is not being afraid to fish deep. Large slow-pitch jigs stay in the strike zone longer and are easier for fish to locate in deeper water. During this session, the standout performers were the Oceans Legacy Deep Contact 400g and the Long Contact 170g in Orange, both proving irresistible when worked with a slow, methodical action.

Winter isn’t about chasing easy fishing, it’s about persistence. There are days when the bites are few and far between, but when they come, they’re often memorable. The quality of the fish makes every cold morning, every drift, and every dropped jig worthwhile.

So don’t pack the gear away just because it’s cold . Dress warm, head offshore, fish deep, and trust the process.

Farewell to my best hunting partner

This is the toughest thing I have ever written. I do not know how to express the absolute heartbreak of losing our first dog, Ace. He was more than a hunting partner; he was a member of our family. From that first cuddle when we went to just have a look, and couldn’t resist those charms. We have been on many adventures, but by far your most favourite thing was duck hunting. I won’t forget those mornings in the hides. Especially the times you got impatient with me, stomping your feet and huffing. All for not letting you off to fetch the ducks while we were working on others. That mammoth morning when you just kept on working, retrieving over 100 birds. Never wanting to stop or give up looking for them. It was such a privilege to watch you work and to call you mine.

people’s hands. He was often causing trouble when food was around. He loved when our children were learning to eat with all the extra morsels about which he was waiting to come in and hoover up. Those evenings were spent impatiently waiting for us to finish dinner so that you could have yours.

Ace’s hunting drive was only second to his love of food. From stealing pizza dough, batches of muffins and cakes off table tops to snatching low-hanging food out of

The grind pays off. Tightlines!

Gareth Faulkner

We only got a short time to say goodbye in the end, but I know you enjoyed that last swim in the river and all the treats on your last day. You were the happiest boy with your tail wagging til the end. I miss you, and so do our girls. You will forever be in our hearts, and I hope to see you again one day.

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THE FISHING PAPER & HUNTING NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026

Norm Hawler on truth and consequences I’ve been shut up in my house for weeks, crook as a dog, with the worst flu I have experienced. Spent a week trying to cough up a lung before that situation settled but we are now ten days and counting of feeling miserable. As much as I enjoy the view over the ocean and the passing parade of fishing boats at sea I do like to get outside and feel the sun on my back and the wind on my face – but I have been bedridden until today. I have just been for a short walk and can tell that in the Bay at least, winter is over.

Island, those eco-cultists who fervently preach that dolphins would apparently never die other than from the impact of commercial fishing are still trying to subvert our nation’s economy by using the United States of America Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This legislation blocks seafood imports caught by methods that could harm marine mammals. The United States remains one of New Zealand’s top core destinations for primary and seafood products, sitting alongside China and Australia. New Zealand’s seafood exports to the United States are heavily defined by premium, highly targeted species.

effectiveness” to strict domestic U.S. rules. The local branch of the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd initiated the original petitions and subsequent 2020 lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade that triggered temporary U.S. import bans on several NZ fish species (such as snapper and hoki). Because these protectionist efforts target U.S. officials and require litigation within the American legal system, the New Zealand groups operate in tandem with major international wildlife protection groups. Our New Zealand fishing industry consistently called the ban unfair, arguing that we have some of the most stringently regulated,

The wattle trees are already in bloom and a few of the gardens in the cottages at the bottom of the hill have bright flurries of daffodils. Spring is very definitely in the air and in one short walk I have almost shed my past few weeks of suffering and general misery. Since falling ill I very quickly tired of television other than for the All Black games and a quick check of the weather map each night. And my weekly dose of Country Calendar – what a great show that is. But I have been doing a great deal of reading and one story from the United States caught my eye earlier in the week. It requires some background explanation – so read on please. Rather than cull cats which spread toxoplasmosis - the #1 confirmed killer of ‘Māui’ dolphins on the west coast of the North

Notwithstanding legislated dolphin sanctuaries, set-net and trawl prohibitions (the latter now having some real flow-on effect consequences in the top of the South Island and Cook Strait) the marine mammal protectionists seek to ban the import of New Zealand seafood products to the U.S. market. They have been trying to do so for several years. They argue that commercial inshore set-net and trawl fishing practices on the West Coast of the North Island are driving the critically endangered Māui dolphin (and the closely related Hector’s dolphin) to extinction through bycatch Under the MMPA, the U.S. is legally required to ban seafood imports from any foreign nation whose marine mammal bycatch standards are not “comparable in

sustainable fisheries in the world. They noted that the critically endangered status of the Māui dolphin is tied to non-fishing factors like pollution and the disease toxoplasmosis, rather than solely commercial fishing. Industry rapidly adopted transparency measures to prove they weren’t harming dolphins. This included adhering to the government’s mandatory deployment of onboard cameras and vessel tracking systems on West Coast vessels to give U.S. regulators verifiable proof of zero dolphin interactions. While the initial 2020 Sea Shepherd lawsuit was successfully beaten and the ban dissolved, the legal friction has not completely disappeared. Environmental legal advocacy is ongoing, with New Zealand authorities continually defending their regulatory

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decisions in both domestic and international courts to ensure NZ seafood remains unblocked in the United States. Whenever NOAA Fisheries (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). issues a “comparability finding” allowing New Zealand trade to continue, these groups file lawsuits to strike it down. So to the recent news article that I read. The banner headline

should really have been “Dear Eco-Cultist, You Get What You Play For” because their successful MMPA action against the Vietnamese tuna industry is backfiring big-time. The U.S import ban has disrupted local supply chains originally constructed to sell Vietnamese yellowfin tuna for raw consumption in the U.S. To adapt, US processors of tuna products are importing less-traceable, lower-quality raw material to meet the gear-based import restrictions. The tuna now banned for U.S. import is still being caught but is shipped elsewhere. Meanwhile, Americans receive an inferior product. Right there, is a lose/lose situation if I ever saw one. And now you know why I don’t have cats.

Issue 252 7

A Relative-ly Good Day

Coastlines Ivan Wilson

It was one of those wonderful West Coast Winter days, but the lead up didn’t bode so well. Snow warnings went out for the mountain passes and we wondered if our relatives, my brother in law and his wife, would be able to get through the Southern Alps from the city. They duly arrived and closer inspections of the weather charts began, with the Sunday of the weekend looking the most likely day for Allan and I to go for a visit to Lake Brunner. He brought 2 of the rods he makes out of the vehicle and placed them on the back deck along with his bag of bits, ready to go in the boat the next morning. A word about his rods – they’re magical wands, wonderful to use and are a credit to him (in case he reads this!!!) We’d decided to keep gentlemen’s hours, so set off at 10am for the half hour run to the lake and the drive up was uneventful apart from quite an amount of thick mist, which I remarked was a good sign as it would be clear and sunny lakeside. So it proved to be and with money in the ramp’s honesty box and us in our life jackets, we gurgled quietly out past the 5 knot buoys, then it was power on as we zoomed towards the favoured spot, where my earlier fishing mate Gary (He of the F Word) and I regularly would begin our days with a prospecting cast or two. It was easily identifiable by the 2 dead trees standing in the water a bit out from the others and oddly, after Gary suddenly passed, very much to our shock, it became just 1 tree. Still miss the man. For an hour or so we poked around up amongst the trees, where the lake had risen after some severe rain a few days earlier, looking for telltale signs – a fin here, a swirl there, but we were not seeing fish. Time for a change of location. We motored to the outer end of the bay to moor up in a sunny, sheltered corner, have lunch and then utilising the light airs that were coming from a convenient direction, we intended to drift back along the lake edges. As we had almost finished our sandwiches, I remarked that the tradition of a fish appearing while we focused on eating, had not been upheld, but Allan reminded me we hadn’t

Once refreshed we set off exploring for fish again, but apart from a few that took off from the shallows into deeper water as we approached, we were still

started flitting and dipping across the water, indicating there might be a bit of a hatch happening in the pleasant temperatures. Shortly we saw the odd rise and one which was nearer the boat had me casting his newly created fly out in it’s direction.

not seeing that many, so we also decided to go out to deeper water. I rowed as Alan fished and he was keen for me to have some casts so we swapped and I tried the 4 weight he’d built. He also had one of his own ties attached to the tippet and about that time Welcome Swallows

The take was subtle but definite and so I quickly handed the rod to Allan to play while I grabbed the rubber meshed landing net. Suddenly he said the fish had gone and I asked where and he told me it was off. Was it played too hard?, was the line allowed to go slack briefly?, but we decided

quite finished and with that, a smallish trout appeared by the boat

it was just bad luck. Allan got the fly back, which was perhaps good luck, but that had a less desirable outcome, which he eventually realised early the next morning, when Allan informed me he’d worked out why we didn’t get any more takes, because when the last hookup occurred, the fish helped us with a “strategic mid-lake release,” but the fly had “moulted” during the fight, losing it’s wing feathers, leaving only the body and tail, so looked a lot different, thus no more fish showed interest. Some things take time to work out, but it was good thinking and explained things nicely. Either that or it was just one of our fisherman’s excuses! We’d continued to cast to rising fish which had no interest in the fly as we moved along the lake edge and at that stage I thought a wee pheas’ tail nymph might have improved things, but time was a-marching on and I thought the winter chill would soon creep back to our discomfort, so we fired up the Yarmy and fizzed back to the ramp. As it was, when we were driving away from the bay the temperature reading on the car’s display was still 10 degrees, so we could’ve stayed a bit longer, but our wives had suggested we get back at 4pm, so after a pleasant run home in the sun discussing what had been a very nice day out, we arrived back an hour late at 5 o’clock. No husbands were harmed in the making of this story!

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THE FISHING PAPER & HUNTING NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026

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Issue 252 9

Firearms Act It is here Last month the new firearms The Aussies are being treated very badly by their government, with what amounts to a forced confiscation, or what those in power call a “Buy Back”. At the prices they are paying, it gives the impression that they are directly related to the first English people sent there for theft and are keeping the family business and tradition alive. It’s disappointing that governments keep trying to make scapegoats of licence holders, who we know aren’t to blame. Their only mistake seems to be having weak prime ministers and ministers. The idea that disarming or restricting licence holders will make any difference to crime shows that they haven’t properly looked into who is actually committing these crimes. Instead, they seem to follow the BS that criminals get their guns from licence holders. It makes you wonder where they think all the drugs come from. Chemists and hospitals, perhaps?

ACT passed through all the steps to become law.

This was the result of a lot of hard work and a huge amount of time. While there are a few things that didn’t go our way, there are also some seriously good wins. To everyone who helped, whether through written submissions or both written and verbal contributions, thank you. All of those efforts helped in the writing of the ACT party's bill. My thanks to everyone who contributed in any way. For me, the last part was a bit overwhelming in its size. There is still a lot to do, and it’s important that the ACT Party gets as much support as possible. The opposition parties still seem to hate us for some reason. I have never been able to work out why, as we are such nice people in my opinion! If we have a change of government, there is no telling what they will do, other than, apparently, keeping the police in charge.

Apparently, it’s the same sort of thinking: they couldn’t possibly be smuggled into the country. What drug dealer would stoop so low as to bring guns across the border? If this Aussie-run sham goes the same way as ours, the police will be so busy targeting licence holders that the gangs will get the opportunity to recruit, their numbers will soar, and everything will get worse. Gun crime will go up, not down. Unlike when we got turned on here and only had the single man standing in our corner, at least the Aussies have a number of people defending licence holders. Everyone here needs to remember how it was for us and who has generally backed us when it comes to this election. The ACT Party needs our help if they are going to be in a position to help us. Without question,

PISTOL SHOOTING Brian Bishop

every vote counts. Without serious numbers, we will be in trouble. Want better outcomes? They need to hold more seats. It really is that simple. I heard something the other day about people not liking to admit, or being asked, who they vote for. That seems bad to me. It says that you don’t trust your own choices, or perhaps that you’re ashamed to admit who you picked. Think on that.

From the July 2026 issue we will be ONLINE ONLY during the winter months - so there will not be a paper available at your local supplier - the only way to access the Fishing Paper will be online. The July, August and September issues will be online only. We will use those month to continue seeking out new advertisers sufficient to allow us to return to an "in print" paper. If we can't secure sufficient advertising revenue then we will make a call on staying online, or on closing down the paper. I can assure you that closing down the paper will be the absolutely last option and is not one I want to have to take. Please reach out if you have ideas as to who we can approach for additional support through advertising or sponsorship. Thanks for your ongoing support Nicola admin@thefishingpaper.co.nz

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10 THE FISHING PAPER & HUNTING NEWS - SEPTEMBER 2026

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Fishers who took too much pāua, shrimp, mussels and tuatua have been fined thousands of dollars along with being placed on community work.

“People who choose to ignore the fishing rules need to know there will be consequences,” says Fisheries New Zealand’s Director of Fisheries Compliance, Steve Ham. “Our job is to protect fishing resources so that everyone can enjoy the opportunity to put fresh kaimoana on the dinner the table.” The following cases were before the courts over the past month. A 25-year-old Porirua man was fined $800 in the Porirua District Court for taking 18 pāua – with 17 of the shellfish undersize. The man had his catch inspected at Breaker Bay in Wellington last November by Fishery Officers. The daily limit per person for taking pāua in the area is five at a minimum size of 125mm. A 44-year-old Lower Hutt man was fined $2000 in the Hutt Valley District Court for taking 48 pāua – with 46 of the shellfish undersize. The man had been diving at Burdans Gate in Eastbourne in October last year. His catch was inspected by Fishery Officers. The daily limit in this area per person is

five at a minimum size of 125mm. A 59-year-old Porirua man was fined $2500 in the Wellington District Court for taking 100 pāua, 127 kina and using underwater breathing apparatus (UBA) to harvest the pāua. The man had been diving at Ōwhiro Bay in 2023 and had his catch inspected. At the time the daily limit for taking pāua in the area was 10 per person. Currently it is five per person. It is illegal to use UBA to gather pāua and the daily limit per person for taking kina in this area is 50. A 71-year-old Auckland man was fined $1000 in the Waitakere District Court for taking 198 shrimp. The man had his catch inspected by Fishery Officers in March in Avondale. The daily limit for taking shrimp in the area is 50 per person. A 39-year-old Hawera man was fined $1200 in the Hawera District Court for taking 45 pāua. The man was stopped by Fishery Officers in November last year and two of the pāua were undersize. The daily limit in this area is five per person at a minimum size of 85mm. A 45-year-old Auckland man was fined $900 in the North Shore District Court for taking 385 green lipped mussels. The man had his catch inspected at Muriwai Beach in December last year. The daily

limit per person in this area is 25. Two other people who were taking mussels with the man are still before the court. Two men from the Far North, aged 39 and 32, have both been ordered to do 40 hours’ community work for taking 542 mussels from 90 Mile Beach. They were sentence in the Kaitaia District Court. The men had their catch inspected by Honorary Fishery Officers in January this year. The daily limit per person for taking mussels in this area is 50 each. A 52-year-old Northland man was fined $750 in the Kaitaia District Court for taking 618 tuatua from 90 Mile Beach. The man had his catch inspected by Honorary Fishery Officers in February this year. The daily limit per person in this area is 150 tuatua. A 32-year-old Auckland man

was fined $2100 in the Wellington District Court for taking 70 pāua while on holiday in the capital. The man took the pāua from the Makara area and Fishery Officers were notified by the owner of an Airbnb property about a large quantity or pāua drying in an oven. The daily limit per person for pāua in this area is 5 at minimum size of 125mm. “If you’re unsure of the fishing rules in the area you plan to fish, get the most up-to-date fishing rules by downloading the free NZ Fishing Rules mobile app. It will also work if you are fishing in an area with limited mobile coverage,” says Mr Ham. We encourage people to report any suspected illegal activity through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ 0800 4 POACHER line (0800 476 224).

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