Media Release from New Zealand Sport Fishing Council
Marlin off the Menu
New Zealand’s world class marlin fishery is threatened by rapidly increasing commercial longline fleet in the South Pacific.
Delegates at the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council AGM in Tutukaka, held 28th & 29th September urged consumers to not to buy marlin products and to tell retailers and restaurants to take it off the menu.
Marlin have been a recreational only fishery in NZ since 1988 when Japanese tuna vessels were banned from fishing in northern New Zealand, as their catch was linked to substantial declines in the sport and tourist fishery.
This encouraged New Zealand commercial boats to enter the lucrative tuna fishery, but they too were banned from landing marlin.
Last month South West Pacific striped marlin fish stocks were assessed as over fished by the scientific committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.
They recommended that the current conservation measure limiting commercial vessels targeting striped marlin be extended into tropical waters, where catch was rapidly increasing.
New Zealand has a world class recreational fishery for large striped marlin with 24 of 26 line class world records caught in our waters, including the heaviest of 224 kg.
While our striped marlin are large there are also less of them than in some tropical fishing grounds.
Charter boats and fishing clubs, who were attracting tourists and providing employment in small coastal ports, have been struggling in recent years.
Yellowfin tuna catch in New Zealand has collapsed since the last reasonable season in 2005.
This was once an abundant fishery with good catch rates especially in the Bay of Plenty.
The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club support taking marlin off the menu as way of sending a clear message to businesses and the Government that anglers are serious about protecting this fishery.
Fishing and conservation groups in the USA have been successful in promoting the Billfish Conservation Act, which will ban the importation of marlin to mainland states and has been passed with clear majorities through the US Senate and Congress and now signed into law by President Obama. .
Ends
6 October 2012
secretary@nzsportfishing.org.nz
