Nugget Point May 2005

This letter was originally published in the Otago Daily Times 23 May 2005

SOUTHERN Shellfish is a company that is working in with resource user groups to promote the development and sustainable harvesting of several species. For several years, we have been carrying out work in the Nuggets area monitoring rock lobster stocks, and in the case of paua, we are implementing enhancement trials. The Nuggets is an important area for this work to take place.   

There are often misconceptions portrayed that inshore fishing methods destroy the marine environment and that it is necessary to have complete no-take areas to carry out research and to aid and sustain fisheries. I have extensive underwater video and still photographic records of the sea bottom and marine life in the south, and there is generally an abundance and diversity of species on the reef bottom that is fished with static gear such as lines, pots and set nets. There are already several areas in the Catlins voluntarily closed to commercial paua gathering, and a 23km stretch of coast between Nugget Point and Long Point is closed by regulation to commercial rock lobster fishers. That is, existing fisheries management procedures can regulate where need be.
   

Our group, which includes locals and fishers with a lot of practical knowledge of the area, want to continue with the work, in particular with the paua enhancement trials. I have carried out some promising pilot scale enhancement trials with Bluff oysters, and with the help of local user groups want to extend this to paua in the Nuggets area. Closing down areas for good does nothing for the sustainable harvesting of paua resources. It will only put increased pressure on other areas.
   

There is an old saying: with forest, cut down a tree, plant out a seedling. If these paua enhancement trials are successful, it will mean that we can adopt more of an agricultural approach to management rather than relying solely on nature, that is, we give nature a helping hand for the target species.
   

The Nuggets is generally a rough water area and compared with the Leigh marine reserve, with its easy access and calmer water, would have very restricted diving time.