A Tauranga diver's criticism of the Ministry of Primary Industries' draft snapper management plan and the Ministry's consultation process has provoked a reply from the MPI's director of fisheries management Dave Turner.

Tauranga diver and spear fisherman Te Atarangi ‘TA' Sayers slammed the draft SNA1 management plan as 'Fifty-six pages of meaningless words”, and took issue with what he says is a lack of advertising of a Tauranga meeting to discuss the draft plan earlier this month.

The plan is to double snapper numbers without reducing the catch. Photo: File.

'It was me and the other eight mates I managed to bring along in the audience, the reps actually looked like they were surprised to see us show up,” says TA.

'It's shocking, absolutely shocking, this is a plan that has big ramifications and we literally knew nothing about the meeting until an hour or so before it took place.”

Dave Turner says crowds were not the point.

'The purpose of the drop in centres is to allow the public to come in and speak one on one with MPI and SNA 1 Strategy Group members,” says Dave. 'We have found people get more opportunity to be involved in discussions than they would through a single speaker public meeting type approach.

'MPI always makes full use of all relevant channels to inform people about events such as these. In addition to a media release being issued there were also paid public notices in local newspapers, information posted on the MPI website, publication on all popular social media channels - reinforced with paid social media advertising and more than 200 targeted e-mails to relevant local stakeholders.

The Strategy Group, particularly Commercial and Customary members, has also publicised the meetings. The NZ Sport Fishing Council and the NZRFC are also members of the group.

'The sessions have been valuable in giving people the opportunity to talk directly with MPI staff and members of the SNA1 Strategy Group. Feedback on the plan has been generally positive. Some useful additional points have been noted and will be passed on to the full Snapper 1 Strategy Group for consideration,” says Dave.

A key point in the plan is a proposal to set ambitious long and medium term management targets for the stock that aim for the number of snapper in the fishery to approximately double over the next 25 years. An intermediate checkpoint is proposed to ensure that snapper numbers increase by 50 per cent within 10 years.

'Current management measures will be reviewed following completion of a new multi-million dollar scientific study of SNA 1 which will begin this year. In the interim the Strategy Group has identified measures that, if implemented, and more importantly supported by all fishers, will help increase the number of snapper.”

The Draft Snapper (SNA1) Management Plan was released by the Ministry for Primary Industries on September 2.

Issues for Te Atarangi Sayers are the draft plan's stated aim to double snapper stocks without lowering the total allowable catch. Another issue he says is the fact the MPI eventually wants to make recreational and commercial fishing 50/50 in terms of the TAC.

Currently, the TAC is 8050 tonnes – with 4500t for commercial fishing, 3050t for recreational, 50 for Māori customary/non-commercial and 450t for other sources of fishing-related mortality.

'These were only a handful of issues I have. Since the meeting I've sent a copy of the plan to friends who work at the University of Waikato for them to look at and see what they think.

If anyone has questions about the SNA1 Management Plan they can email snapper1plan@mpi.govt.nz or call 0800 00 83 33. The plan is on the MPI website.