Great Barrier is weighing new local protections that would stop boats from Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf shifting to Aotea to target crayfish, after the Government closed mainland waters in April.
A ban running from Cape Rodney to Kawakawa Bay was imposed for three years after Fisheries New Zealand declared those stocks “severely depleted.” With that entire stretch shut, Barrier has become the closest open ground.
“It’s good news for the inner Gulf, it’s disastrous for Aotea,” Barrier Local Board chair Izzy Fordham said when the ban came in. “Our already depleted crayfish stock face overfishing by fishers who will now be forced to come our way.”
The Local Board and iwi, Ngāti Rehua Ngātiwai ki Aotea, are now asking residents if Barrier should impose its own rules. Measures under discussion include closing off parts of the coast, seasonal bans, and tighter daily limits. Any new rules would apply to locals as well as visiting fishers. One idea tabled is to restrict how many days’ worth of catch visiting boats are allowed to carry away, to stop mainland vessels building up bulk loads. Another proposal is to shut Barrier’s fishery during the breeding season, when crayfish are at their most vulnerable.
The move sits alongside, but separate from, the CRA2 review led by Fisheries New Zealand, which tables reducing the overall crayfish take from Te Arai in the north, down to the Bay of Plenty.
Earlier this year, Fisheries NZ issued infringement notices to what appeared to be a poaching syndicate working off Barrier.
In May 2024, police intercepted a boat near Aotea with 21 packhorse crayfish, some undersized, after it fled officers.
The survey is open now. Submissions will form the basis of a petition to the Minister for local bylaws covering Aotea and its waters.
