\u201cTarakihi is an iconic fish for many New Zealanders. Most of the catch is consumed here at home and is a staple in restaurants, supermarkets and fish and chip shops across the country.<\/p>\n
Tarakihi has seen a major decline in stock. Photo \/ Brett Phibbs<\/p>\n
\u201cNew information released by Fisheries NZ shows the stock along the eastern coast of the country has been declining since the 1940s and has been overfished for six decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe western coast stock has also been in long-term decline, but the trend accelerated dramatically after 2017.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peart said the collapse in numbers showed failures in the quota management system and suggested there are uncertainties about whether populations can rebuild because of the loss of juvenile habitat and impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cEDS is calling for complete closure of the entire fishery to provide the best chance of recovery,\u201d Peart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis can be achieved by setting the Total Allowable Catch to zero.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also seeking full protection of tarakihi juvenile habitat, juvenile aggregation areas and spawning areas from trawling and Danish seining.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf these measures aren\u2019t implemented quickly, we will be facing extinction of one of our most commonly eaten white fish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma Taylor, Director of Fisheries Management for Fisheries New Zealand, said the information had been received about the tarakihi stocks and Fisheries NZ will consult on significant reductions to tarakihi catch limits and potential restrictions on fishing to protect juvenile populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe latest information shows fewer young tarakihi fish are entering the populations,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis low recruitment has coincided with warmer sea temperatures and scientists are unsure whether this is a short-term issue that may improve as fishing pressure is reduced or part of a long-term decline linked to a changing environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo support a needed recovery of the tarakihi stocks, we are seeking public feedback on proposed changes to management settings and supporting measures for tarakihi, including potential fishing restrictions in tarakihi nursery and juvenile areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor said Fisheries NZ made significant annual investment into fisheries science and took multiple steps to manage it, including feedback and evidence from different sources, and peer reviewing the evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cTarakihi is an iconic fish for many New Zealanders. Most of the catch is consumed here at home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[534,665,1060,28491,1039,124,29384,44973,11591,8321,3087,209,252277,4515,111,43,139,69,87152,35635,781,252276,3552,80],"class_list":["post-505810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-amid","tag-around","tag-ban","tag-brink","tag-chips","tag-could","tag-decline","tag-environmental","tag-extinction","tag-fish","tag-fishing","tag-group","tag-homecooked","tag-meals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-staple","tag-steep","tag-stock","tag-tarakihi","tag-urges","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505810","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=505810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}