Marlborough blue cod fishing to resume

The Marlborough Sounds recreational blue cod fishery will reopen on April 1 next year, Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Phil Heatley announced today.

The date was one of the recommendations to Mr Heatley from the Marlborough Sounds Blue Cod Management Group.

The blue cod fishery was closed for four years in October 2008 because of overfishing. The Fisheries Ministry appointed the Blue Cod Management Group to come up with a plan to manage fishing in the sounds and its draft plan was submitted this year after community consultation.

Under new rules announced by Mr Heatley this morning, the fishery will open on April 1 next year and close on August 31. It will reopen on December 20, 2011 and close on 31 August, 2012.

From then, the annual season will run from December 20 to August 31.

``I always supported lifting the 2008 closure early as long as I could be assured blue cod can be fished in a sustainable way,'' Mr Heatley said.

``I'm confident that the management measures put in place will ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery.''

Key elements of the management plan include:
- a bag limit of two blue cod per person per day.
- a limited fishing season.
- strict fish size limits between 30cm and 35cm.
- fish must be whole or gutted; they cannot be filleted when inspected.
- there will be a no-take zone surrounding Maud Island.

Mr Heatley said the management measures were designed to keep the number of fish being taken at a sustainable level, and to protect spawning. 

Monitoring and research will include annual analysis of catch information reports by commercial and charter boats operators combined with independent abundance surveys every three years and amateur fishing surveys every four to five years.

It was important to realise the fishery would closed over summer, until April 1, he said.

``This will give us time to put the necessary regulations in place as well as a plan to inform blue cod fishers about the new rules.''

Until then any blue cod caught accidentally in the closed area must be returned straight to the sea. Blue cod caught outside the closed area, but landed in the Marlborough Sounds, must be landed whole or gutted.

The plan was designed to ensure the sustainability of blue cod and be easy for anglers to remember and fishery officers to enforce, he said.

``I am sure that the many hundreds of recreational fishers who catch the bulk of blue cod in the Sounds understand better than anyone the value of measures designed to protect the future of blue cod fishing.''

- The Marlborough Express