{"id":204859,"date":"2025-12-28T09:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/204859\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T09:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:51:07","slug":"northland-fishing-lines-drawn-mp-challenges-shane-jones-on-marlin-bycatch-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/204859\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland fishing lines drawn: MP challenges Shane Jones on marlin bycatch rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The marlin proposal would allow the 300 to 400 marlin caught incidentally by commercial fishers to be landed and sold, instead of the dead fish being left in the ocean<\/a>, as currently allowed on the west coast, he said.<\/p>\n

But McCallum said he and Jones recently met with representatives of Northland\u2019s sports fishing sector<\/a>, who put forward a good case to keep the rules as they are.<\/p>\n

Sports marlin fishing is \u201cbig business\u201d in Northland<\/a>, particularly in the Bay of Islands, as it requires specialised boats and gear, often through charters, McCallum said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe value of sport fishing to Northland<\/a> is significantly more than any bycatch would bring. I saw two boats being built, worth $30m each, based around marlin fishing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bay of Islands is one of the marlin fishing capitals of the world, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NorthlandNorthland MP Grant McCallum says the recreational and sport fishing industry based around marlin has more value than any commercial bycatch will have. Photo \/ Supplied. Inset \/ NZME<\/p>\n

McCallum disagreed with Jones<\/a> that opponents were \u201ccatastrophising\u201d the impact of the changes, with the swordfish industry showing what could happen.<\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, the Government allowed the sale of dead broadbill swordfish caught as a bycatch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bycatch went from 100 tonnes to 1000 tonnes in a few years. Instead of being a bycatch, it was brought into the Quota Management System and had a value attached,\u201d McCallum said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want the same thing happening to marlin. Our swordfishery used to be the best in the world and it\u2019s not now.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCallum acknowledged he still had work to do to convince Jones, but he was reasonably confident the fellow Northlander could be shown the light.<\/p>\n

\"OceanOcean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says changes to the Fisheries Act are about growing the industry while ensuring sustainability. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident, given the representation by the sports fishing sector and the clear value to the north, that I can get him to change his mind on the marlin fishery.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCallum also did not support a proposed change that would remove protections for 19 reef fish species, including red moki, boarfish and red pigfish.<\/p>\n

Overall, he was not against commercial fishing. McCallum said he loved fish but, like many New Zealanders, was either not in a position to go fishing or not able to catch them.<\/p>\n

He said tensions between recreational and commercial fishers required a delicate balance of rules.<\/p>\n

Jones previously indicated he could change his mind on the marlin rules, calling it a \u201cmolehill not worth dying on\u201d.<\/p>\n

But he defended overall changes to the Fisheries Act, saying they were about increasing jobs and growing the fishing industry while ensuring sustainability.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The marlin proposal would allow the 300 to 400 marlin caught incidentally by commercial fishers to be landed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34609,125063,9084,36426,4760,97757,3087,71,2347,305,2176,22511,440,123614,2747,6368,3556,111,43,139,1067,69,90,125064,19764,6122,7228,213,1886],"class_list":["post-204859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-backed","tag-bycatch","tag-challenges","tag-drawn","tag-firsts","tag-fishers","tag-fishing","tag-from","tag-grant","tag-have","tag-jones","tag-lines","tag-local","tag-marlin","tag-mccallum","tag-mp","tag-national","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-opposed","tag-received","tag-rules","tag-shane","tag-sports","tag-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}