Responding to https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360874562/prioritise-looking-after-kiwis-fishermen-protest-new-hauraki-gulf-protection-act

The following can be attributed to Doug Saunders-Loder, President of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen

Recognising the right to protest, it is extremely disappointing that five local ring net fishers are being publicly targeted in this way. They are good hard-working Kiwis who fish for the purpose of ensuring other Kiwis can feed their families – which, of course, is consistent with what the recreational sector says it wants.  

Their commentary on ‘commercial fishing’ misses the point that these measures only apply to a small number of traditional fishers who have served this community for decades from the same places.

There are thousands of people in the community and at marae who are unable to fish for themselves and who rely on what these commercial fishers can catch for them. Protest organiser Ben Chissell said this himself: “We know that banning commercial fishing in New Zealand is never going to happen, and there is certainly a place for it, there’s no other way that someone who doesn’t fish can go and get their fish and chips.” I ask, where is the equality in not allowing all these people to have access to fish?

Also, the new rules for these five fishers mean that when they stop fishing their rights are not passed on to others, so this is a transition out of fishing for them. This is not a forever situation.

We know for a fact from the Ministry for Primary Industries that the biggest threats to the Gulf are population growth, development and intensification of land use, land-use practices that result in significant sediment loads, nutrients, pathogens, marine debris and other contaminants, aging infrastructure, increasing ship and boat numbers. Further down the list are commercial and recreational fishing, and marine pests.  

How about we all work together to find solutions for these impacts. These Auckland recreational fishers need to stop victimising their local commercial fishers for doing a job for their communities who need them.