Fishing Pressure in Fiordland

Ruth checked out the number of registered charter vessels operating out of Fiordland and determined their potential amateur fishing capacity.

This gives 234 potential clients fishing on any given day.

Assuming these charter vessels went out one day a week during the year the legal catch limit is as follows:

Remember that the total inhabitable productive area of the entire Fiordland coast is only 46 square kms (about the size of Wellington Harbour). You should also take into account that these figures may be conservative because they do not include fisherfolk who do not use the charter vessels.

Sure there are plenty of assumptions in this. Not everyone who goes on a charter vessel will fish and not everyone will dive for crayfish. Nonetheless these figures are scary. Legislation is supposed to protect against possible problems. It is the view of the authors that the current regulations do not provide sufficient protection to the Fiordland underwater fauna and need to be reconsidered..

Last modified on Monday, September 04, 2000