Notice of closure of the inner waters of Tasman Bay to commercial pair trawling and Danish seining fishing methods, and to commercial snapper fishing using a surrounding net, from 27 April 2010 Until 30 September 2010.
This letter is to advise you that regulation 11 of the Fisheries (Challenger Area Commercial Fishing) Regulations 1986 has been invoked. Regulation II provides that:
-when more than 100 tonnes of snapper have been taken from that area of Tasman Bay and Golden Bay lying inside a straight line drawn from Farewell Spit Lighthouse (at 40°32. 70'S and 173°00.50'E) to Cape Stephens (at 40°41. 57'S and J73 °57. 21 'E); then around the mean high-water mark to Sauvage Point (at 40056.47'S and J73°46. 32 'E); then to Okuri Point light (at 40°58. 70'S and 173°45. 70 'E) at any time during the period commencing with the 1st day of October in any year and expiring with the last day of February in the following year, the chief executive shall give public notice of that fact in a newspaper circulating in the Nelson area and by such other means as the chief executive considers appropriate and shall specifying that notice a date (being a date later than the publication of the notice) after which no commercial fisher shall-
(a) Take any fish by pair trawling or Danish seining; or
(b) Take any snapper using a surrounding net that is not a drag net-in those waters of Tasman Bay (Fig. 1J, lying inside a straight line drawn from the north-western most point of Pepin Island (at 41 °08. 50'S and 173°24.80'E) to the easternmost point of Adele Island (at 40058.58'S and 173°04.11'E); then along the mean high-water mark in a westerly direction to the northernmost point of Adele Island (at 40058.50'S and 173 °03. 50 'E) " then to the nearest point of the mainland (at 40°58. 43 'S and 173°02. 88 'E).
More than 100 tonnes of snapper has been caught in the specified waters of Tasman and Golden Bays between 1 October 2009 and the last day of February 20 10. Accordingly, the chief executive is obliged to close the specified inner waters of Tasman Bay to commercial fishing so that no fish may be taken by pair trawling, or Danish seining, and no snapper taken using a surrounding net (except drag net).
Public notice of that fact will be placed in the Nelson Mail on 13 April. MFish will provide a two week notification period before the closure of the inner waters of Tasman Bay (refer map below) takes effect on 27 April 2010, and applies until the end of the fishing year on 30 September.
Further information on the closure or the closed area is available from the Ministry of Fisheries by calling (03) 5481069 or visiting the Ministry of Fisheries website www.fish.govt.nz. For your information, a review of regulation 11 is being undertaken. A consultation paper is due to be released for comment at the beginning of May 2010.