18 Sep 2013

Govt pits fishers against each other - trust

6:43 am on 18 September 2013

Te Ohu Kaimoana is disappointed with the way the Government has made changes to the snapper quota - saying it has pitted two groups against each other.

The Government has announced it will cut the recreational snapper catch limit from nine to seven a day, and will increase the size limit from 27 centimetres to thirty.

The Maori Fisheries Trust says Maori interests account for 40 per cent of commercial fishing and about the same percentage of recreational anglers.

Its chief executive, Peter Douglas, says the way the Ministry for Primary Industries has handled the process has done little for those two important fishing groups.

He says it's caused recreational and commercial fisherman to attack each other instead of trying to create a decent discussion.

Mr Douglas says more concrete information is needed about the recreational take, to know how it will affect Maori and the rest of the population.

The changes will affect the fishery from the Bay of Plenty to the Far North from next April.