Counting the cost of crayfish

Fisheries New Zealand is considering how two crayfish stocks on the East Coast of the North Island could be managed.

Crayfish 2 (CRA2) - Te Arai Point to East Cape; and Crayfish 4 (CRA4) - Hawke's Bay to Titahi Bay, Wellington, are both in the spotlight, with LegaSea urging Kiwis to have their say on the possibility of having a management target to the areas to allow the species to bounce back. 

While the science is still inadequate, it's hard to say how long it will take for these areas to be repopulated with crayfish, but with the possibility of it taking years, even decades, to rebuild, the fight is on to protect the species while we still can.

Click here to have your say on how you'd like these fisheries managed.

In related news, a recent petition by LegaSea raised almost $10,000 to help build a campaign to stop a Fisheries Act reform, presented by Shane Jones, that has the potential to effectively privatise fish stock resources, permit commercial fishers to dump unwanted catch at sea, and restrict access to onboard camera footage.