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Image source: www.fishingmag.co.nz
Poverty Bay hapū Ngāti Oneone and Rakaiatane are pushing for two mātaitai to protect crayfish from a 32 tonne increase in commercial quota.
Spokeswoman Nikki Searancke says the non-commercial fishing reserves would give recreational and customary fishers a better chance of finding legal size crayfish.
In the East Coast fishery commercial operators are able to take crayfish with tails two millimetres shorter than recreational fishers during winter.
Ms Searanke says few crayfish are escaping the commercial pots for long enough to reach the larger size.
She says local iwi were not consulted when the concessions were made to the industry 20 years ago, and it’s time to remove them.
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