On our ‘doorstep’ we have the Kāpiti Marine Reserve which has been rebuilding local fish stocks for the last two decades. Now there are proposals to allow greater commercial catches of snapper. Will this affect other marine life nearby though? What’s the impact on local recreational fishers?
“Kāpiti Marine Reserve is like an oasis: it’s the hidden jewel in the Kāpiti Island crown,” Guardians of Kapiti Marine Reserve chairman Ben Knight said.
“It protects a really diverse range of actually very fragile and very biogenic habitats, habitats that support a lot of life, and that provide shelter [and] refuge for juvenile aggregations of species, so blue cod, snapper, that kind of thing.”
The community group is concerned about the potential damage increased fishing could do to the habitats, and wants the establishment of a wider, no-trawling buffer zone surrounding and protecting the reserve. …
For the Guardians, the idea of more fishing is not just about the stocks, but also about the damage trawlers could do to the habitats which surround Kāpiti Island, not just the reserve.
Kāpiti Coast residents fear repercussions of ramped up snapper fishing | RNZ News.