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The pressure is on to ban bottom trawling, scallop dredging, and Danish seining within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
A 36,000-signature petition was presented to MPs Chloe Swarbrick and Eugenie Sage at Parliament last week by an alliance of organisations including Forest & Bird, the Sport Fishing Council and recreational fishing lobby group Lega Sea.
Lega Sea spokesperson Sam Woolford says those destructive practices are set to continue in Fisheries New Zealand’s proposed Hauraki Gulf Fisheries Plan.
He says new Fisheries Minister Rachel Brooking has the power to stop them.
“We know te fishery is under pressure, We know the health of the environment is degrading. And one of those fundamental things we can change is the use of destructive fishing techniques. So we wanted the minister to know we are actually supportive of change, we are supportive of more sustainable fishing – more targeted and focused fishing techniques would be appreciated,” Mr Woolford says.
He says if nothing is done, there could be a repeat of the scallop fishery, which had to be closed because the population crashed in the face of overfishing and destruction of habitat.
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