After almost thirty years without fresh data on fish stocks around the Lower North Island, the fishing industry and scientists have developed a novel solution to finding out what's in the water.
The most recent trawl survey of Area 2 was in 1996. Area 2 stretches from north Taranaki, right around the lower North Island and up to East Cape.
Since then, officials and ministers have extrapolated that data to set catch allowances.
But fishers found it wasn't accurate. Snapper - as an example - was being found in far more abundance than 1996 - but the catch allowances wouldn't acknowledge that.
For other fish stocks it was the opposite - catch allowances were high and overfishing was a possibility.
Gisborne Fisheries general manager Salve Zame, Seafood NZ general manager of inshore fishing Tiff Bock and Dr Richard O'Driscoll - the Chief Scientist for Fisheries at Earth Science New Zealand - explain how a partnership between industry and government is getting the information up to date.
Photo: Supplied by Seafood NZ
