NIWA Report - Potential for artificial enhancement of scallops in Northland 
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As a result of changes to the scallop season in 2007 and some concerns about commercial dredging, some members of the club are looking into the quantity and distribution of scallops' in the Doubtless Bay area.
NIWA Report - Potential for artificial enhancement of scallops in Northland
Ministry of Fisheries Report - Initial Position Paper - Proposal to Review the TAC for the Northland Scallop Fishery (SCA1) For 2005
Advice received (27 June 2007) from District Compliance Manager of the Ministry of Fisheries when we sent them this photo and asked for confirmation of limits for different species of crayfish: Daily Limits: Regulation 25 of the Amateur Fishing Regulations 1986 sets out the daily limits for rock lobster. Which includes pack horse. The maximum number any person can take or possess in any 1 day is 6. The regulation does not differentiate between red or pack horse rock lobster and any combination is allowed as long as you don’t exceed 6 which is the daily limit. The daily limit does not differentiate between methods so if you are diving or setting pots again you must not exceed the daily limit. Spanish Lobsters are covered by the shellfish daily limit which is 50 per person and there is no size limit. |
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Measuring and Size Restrictions:
Regulation 25A sets out size limits for both spiny rock lobster (reds) and Pack Horse (greens)
[25A Undersize rock lobster
(1) A rock lobster is undersize for the purposes of these regulations if, in whatever state the rock lobster or tail is in when it is measured (whether alive or dead, or cooked, frozen, or chilled),
(a) In the case of a female spiny rock lobster, the width of its tail is less than [[60]] mm when measured in accordance with subclauses (2) and (3) of this regulation:
(b) In the case of a male spiny rock lobster, the width of its tail is less than 54mm when measured in accordance with subclauses (2) and (3) of this regulation:
(c) In the case of a packhorse rock lobster of either sex, the length of its tail is less than 216mm when measured in accordance with subclauses (4) and (5) of this regulation.
(2) The width of the tail of a spiny rock lobster shall, for the purposes of this regulation, be the distance measured in a straight line from the tip of one primary pleural spine on the second abdominal segment of the tail to the tip of the other primary pleural spine on that segment.
Obviously there is no difference in size limit for male or female pack horse and the measurement is not the tail width but rather the length.
Subclauses 4 and 5 below define the tail and how it is measured.
(4) The length of the tail of a packhorse rock lobster shall, for the purposes of this regulation, be the distance in a straight line, when the tail is laid flat, from the posterior side of the calcified bar on the underside of the first abdominal segment of the tail to the posterior edge of the telson of the tail fan.
(5) In the case of any dispute as to whether a packhorse rock lobster is undersize or not, the length of the tail of the rock lobster shall be measured, and the matter thereby determined, as follows:
(a) The length shall be measured by means of a tail-length measuring device supplied by the Director-General consisting of a rigid metal bar with a pin set in it:
(b) The pin of the measuring device shall be placed against the mid-point on the posterior side of the calcified bar on the first abdominal segment of the tail:
(c) With the pin kept in that position and the tail laid flat, the measuring device shall be brought into line with the posterior edge of the telson of the tail fan, and the length of the tail shall be the distance as indicated on the bar of the measuring device from the pin to that posterior edge:
(d) When measuring that distance, no more pressure shall be applied to the tail and the measuring device than is necessary to—
(i) Cause the calcified bars on the ventral surface of the tail to just touch the measuring device; and
(ii) Bring the pin of the device and the bar of the device into contact with the relevant points of measurement.
Colour:
Obviously the spiny rock lobster are red and commonly known as “REDS”
The pack horse are green and commonly known as “PACKIES”
If you refer to the latest recreational pamphlets the entire back page is dedicated to rock lobster and has pictures of how to measure.
For more information log on to www.fish.govt.nz
Members of the dive club choose to support Pure Air Fillers.
An official list of Pure Air Fillers can be found at http://www.nzunderwater.org.nz/index.asp. You need to follow the path through the index on the left under "SCUBA Cylinders" (they don't have a direct link) then click on "View a list of current Pure Air Stations". This is only New Zealand Underwater (NZUA) certified stations. There are 2 (possibly 3) other pure air certifiers in NZ that are private operators.
The law says that a Person must not fill a vessel with compressed gas unless an approved filler or if an approved filler is present (HASNO Act Regulation 59). And that this person must not fill a tank if the air provided does not comply with AS NZS 2299 or AS 3848 (NZ Gazette No. 35 Schedule 4 26 Mar 04). A filling station must be able to give proof to its customers that it is compliant with these rules. NZUA issues a pure air certification that must be visible to all (ie stuck to the wall). Any other filler must also be able to provide proof of compliance. If they can do this then you are sure you are getting PURE AIR.
A poisonous sea creature with toxin potent enough to kill someone in 20 minutes has been seen in the waters off Northland.
The marine snails have previously been seen in the Parengarenga and Whangaroa Harbours.
The cone shells' potentially lethal venom can seep through gloves or a wetsuit, even when handled carefully, the Northern Advocate reported.
Dive instructor Alan Morrison spotted the carnivorous cone shell while diving at Deep Water Cove in the Bay of Islands.
"I was about 300m from the frigate Canterbury when I saw the 6cm-long cone shell. It was about 10m down the bank of an island and stuck to the side of a rock."
Mr Morrison said he photographed the snails.
The cone shells were either herbivores or carnivores, marine expert Wade Doak said.
The herbivores attached themselves to reef crests where they ate algae.
"Carnivorous cone shells, like the one seen at Deep Water Cove, have lighter shells and they fire their weapon at small fish like a whaling harpoon. It's linked to the animal by a translucent tube down which fatal venom is injected."
The cone shell retracts its tube and draws the prey into its mouth, Mr Doak said.
He said cone shells were capable of killing fish bigger than themselves.
Marine author Tony Enderby said the variety of cone shell found at Deep Water
Cove -- Conus lischkeanus kermadecensis -- had been found at the Kermadec Islands
and in Parengarenga and Whangaroa Harbours, but nobody in New Zealand had died
after contact with them.
- NZPA
Google link to images which help identify the highly toxic Cone Shell
Divers will inspect a sunken fishing boat that went aground on a reef in the Far North before it was washed off by big seas.
The 100-tonne Seawyf is lying broken up in shallow water off the Fairway Reef in Doubtless Bay.
The Northland Regional Council had been discussing what to do with the vessel before it was washed off the reef and into the bay.
It grounded on March 3 and sat firmly on the rocks with a badly damaged hull until it was washed off the reef on April 22.
The ship's owner, Te Rarawa Fisheries, and its insurers were disputing who should pay the salvage cost when the Seawyf disappeared into the bay.
Northland Regional Council harbourmaster Captain Ian Niblock said a surface assessment had been done of the wreck.
"But we really need to have a better look. I understand it is in two main pieces with some smaller bits.
"We will go and have a look and then we will look at any potential environmental impact."
He said a date had yet to be set for divers to inspect the Seawyf.
Diesel fuel was removed within a day or two of the grounding.
Captain Niblock said that until divers had inspected it, it was not pozssible to say if the wreck would be lifted off the seabed or left to deteriorate.
- NZPA
Heavy sea swells have tipped a 100-tonne Far North commercial fishing boat into the sea from its perch on Fairway Reef, 7km north of the entrance to Mangonui Harbour in Doubtless Bay, where it had been stuck for seven weeks.
The 20m Seawyf struck the reef in darkness on March 4 while returning to Mangonui in heavy seas. The vessel disappeared from the reef on Tuesday.
Northland Regional Council deputy regional harbourmaster Jim Lyle confirmed the boat had "gone totally" over the edge of the reef and now could not be seen.
Council staff plan to visit the site today to see what's happened to the wreck.
The council has issued a local warning to fishermen, boaties and sailors who use the bay to be aware of the wreck if they're near Fairway Reef.
No salvage had been attempted because of a disagreement between the Seawyf's owners and insurers over who should pay for its removal.
A wrecked fishing boat now stuck fast on a Far North reef may eventually become another diving attraction in a growing list of dive tourism wrecks off Northland's east coast.
The 20m Seawyf has been sitting on Fairway Reef, 7km north of the entrance to Mangonui Harbour in Doubtless Bay, since March 4 when it hit the reef during darkness in heavy seas and high winds while returning from a fishing trip.
The boat's three-man crew were rescued unharmed but more than five weeks later, the local owners of the 100-tonne vessel and their insurers have been at odds over salvage and removal costs.
Northland Regional Council harbourmaster Captain Ian Niblock says no decisions have been made on what will happen to the Seawyf, which is badly damaged and holed.
"It's not desirable to have it still there but it's not going anywhere so it does allow us time to work through various options," he says.
An informal group of Doubtless Bay people is interested in the possibility of turning the vessel, now believed to be a total loss, into a dive attraction if no agreement can be reached on removing it from the exposed reef.
A resource consent would have to be approved and extensive iwi consultation undertaken before any sinking could take place.
Dive instructor Andre Kunz, who owns the Whatuwhiwhi and Kaitaia dive centre, says for the Seawyf to be sunk as a diving venue, it would have to benefit the local economy and the marine environment as an artificial reef to attract marine life.
A member of the group is putting together a report on whether such a venture would be environmentally viable.
"We like diving on things and it would be beneficial for us having it there but we're not pushing anything at the moment," Mr Kunz says.
If the vessel was sunk, it would be preferable to have it on the reef's northeast side where there was depth of water.
Mr Kunz said Fairway Reef was "not an ideal place" for a diving wreck but if it did happen, it would be "the icing on the cake" in a dive-wreck tourism trail stretching from Tutukaka, northeast of Whangarei, to the northern Far North.
Former Navy vessels Waikato and Tui have been sunk off Tutukaka, the Canterbury was sunk last year just inside the entrance to the Bay of Islands, and the former Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior lies to the north on the seabed near the Cavalli Islands, just out from Matauri Bay.
A local man involved in previous efforts by the group to get a dive wreck into Doubtless Bay said a consent process would have to be gone through and the Seawyf would have to be stripped bare in its present position.
"But if it's left there, the sea will do that job itself," he said.
If the vessel was to be washed off the reef and sunk by a storm, however, there would be no need for a consent process, although local iwi would still have to agree to any dive venture proposal.
Fuel and oil have already been removed from the Seawyf and the regional council says it poses no risk to the environment.
NORTHLAND DIVE WRECKS
* Former Navy vessels Waikato and Tui, off Tutukaka.
* Canterbury, inside the entrance to the Bay of Islands.
* Former Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, near the Cavalli Islands off Matauri Bay.
A wrecked fishing boat could be cut into pieces to get it off the rocks in Northland where it went aground last month.
The 100-tonne Seawyf is stuck on the Fair Way Reef at the entrance to Mangonui Harbour and its owners and the insurers are in dispute over removal costs.
It is believed to be a total loss but was not yet legally considered a wreck, Northland Regional harbourmaster Captain Ian Niblock said.
Since the grounding the boat's owner Te Rarawa Fishing and the insurers had been trying to sort out "an issue" over who paid for its removal, Capt Niblock said.
Legal action to force the company to remove the hulk was an option but it was too early to say if that option would be used.
"We are still working through the issues with the owners and they in turn with their insurers."
He said another option was to cut it into pieces to remove it.
He said contaminants including diesel fuel had been removed and it was not an environmental risk.
Because of the damage there were a lot of practical difficulties in removing the boat.
"That is why the vessel is still sitting there because it is not an easy job to save it from where it is."
- NZPA
A "guardian angel" whose familiar voice on coastal maritime radio has played a major role in Far North sea rescues for 15 years has all but signed off.
Illness has forced Maureen MacMillan of Coopers Beach to give up her voluntary regular routine as the voice of Far North Coastguard Radio.
Mrs MacMillan, with husband Malcolm, has operated the radio service from home since the early 90s when they gave up commercial fishing.
She used her detailed knowledge of the Far North coastline and radio operating skills to advise and help an armada of small boats, commercial, charter and recreational fishers, as well as co-ordinate rescue attempts.
"I loved every moment of it. I can still tell them what to do," Mrs MacMillan said at a gathering of fishing and emergency service representatives, family and friends to recognise her work.
"I still get calls from the police asking where to go. It's good to know I can still give advice."
Mrs MacMillan was presented with a special mayoral award by Far North Mayor Yvonne Sharp in recognition of' extraordinary services to the district, saying: "People owe their lives to you."
Mrs MacMillan, 59, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year. She has also suffered two recent heart attacks and her voice is now very weak.
She recalls two tragedies she was involved in by radio, both involving the loss of fishing boats in Far North waters.
One, the Iron Maiden, sank near Pandora Bank southwest of Cape Reinga in August 2005 with the loss of its two crewmen.
The other involved the trawler San Manukau, which capsized off Doubtless Bay in the 1990s. One crew member drowned before the vessel was towed into the bay.
Mrs MacMillan was also on duty when another boat, the Viking 2, was stuck fast for several days on a rocky reef at the entrance to Mangonui Harbour in 2003.
"I'm sorry I can't do any more," she said. "But I still listen in during the week."
Written tributes to her efforts came from commercial and charter fishers, sport fishing and game fishing clubs.
Other tributes described her skills as respected by police search and rescue, maritime radio, helicopter pilots, Customs, shipping companies and recreational fishers.
Kaitaia police district's commander, Senior Sergeant Gordon Gunn, said Mrs MacMillan "would have everything sorted out" whenever search and rescue organisers called her to start a Far North sea area search.
"She was a brilliant help. We had lots of trust and confidence in her knowledge and ability to organise. That included searches for missing divers and lost dinghies," he said.
"She was a guardian angel and a link in communications for search and rescue even when an incident was on the opposite [west] coast."
Northland Fire Service volunteer support officer and local community board member Colin Kitchen described Mrs MacMillan as "a rare breed of volunteer" and the "queen of marine radio".
Other volunteers are now running the radio service.
The Ministry of Fisheries is taking a hard line with divers taking soft-shell crayfish. Officers have also cracked down on anglers bagging undersize snapper and kingfish, as well as those taking too many mussels and kina.
During the past 40 days, Northland officers have issued 16 infringement notices totalling $4000 for undersize crayfish, soft-shell crayfish, excess mussels, excess kina and undersize kingfish and snapper.
Northland compliance manager Darren Edwards said the number of incidents involving soft-shell crayfish was rising steadily.
"If fishermen are prepared to take them in this state then they must be prepared to suffer the consequences, which will be either by way of a $250 fine or prosecution for more serious offences. This is the same approach that will be taken across the entire fishery whether it be shellfish or wet fish."
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