Pa¯ua ban lifted for trial season

Pa¯ua diving is back in business along the Kaiko¯ura and south Marlborough coast after a five-year ban.

Diver surveys have found the pa¯ ua population is recovering from the coastal changes of the 2016 earthquake, and as a result both commercial and recreational fishing restarted on Wednesday for a trial summer season.

The temporary ban had affected the coast from Marfells Beach to Conway River and extended 4 nautical miles out to sea. It was the first ban of its kind.

Coastal uplift during the 7.8-magnitude earthquake had left many pa¯ua out of the water, prompting shellfish and seaweed fisheries along the east coast to be closed.

Divers surveyed 31 sites along the coast between 2017 and 2020, and found a general increase in pa¯ ua numbers, though some sites had a much greater increase than others. The pa¯ ua were also getting bigger.

Kaiko¯ura Marine Guardians recommended lifting the ban in a letter to Fisheries Minister David Parker in February. Ministers making decisions about the Kaiko¯ ura coast were required to consider the advice of the guardians, under the Kaiko¯ ura (Te Tai o Marokura) Marine Management Act 2014.

The guardians said they had focused on recreational pa¯ ua gathering, to protect the number in shallow waters, since commercial harvest was already restricted by commercial catch limits.

Their suggestions included a lower limit of three per person, and longer legal shell size of 130 millimetres, and an annual fishing season of December 1 to March 1.

The new recreational rules announced by the Ministry for Primary Industries were not quite as stringent as those sought by the guardians. The daily limit would be five blackfoot pa¯ ua per person, with a minimum legal size of 125mm. People gathering over two days or more could possess up to two daily limits, including at home.

There was still no taking of yellowfoot pa¯ ua allowed.

Commercial pa¯ ua diving would also be allowed until February 28, with a total allowable commercial catch of 23 tonnes, which was half the amount allowed before the 2016 earthquake.

A new fisheries plan for the PAU3 area would include fine-scale catch reporting.

The kina fishery also reopened in the area for both commercial and recreational fishing from Wednesday, with catch limits unchanged.

Fisheries NZ inshore fisheries south manager Allen Frazer said the reopening was exciting.

Primary Industries officers would be out and about, checking catches and offering advice on rules and how to harvest pa¯ ua.