9 Aug 2023

Campaigner says Govt's Hauraki gulf plan doesn't go far enough

From Checkpoint, 5:46 pm on 9 August 2023

More destruction of the seabed and less Kaimoana for ordinary fishers.

That's the damning verdict from one interest group that says the government's new plan to protect and regenerate the Hauraki gulf doesnt go far enough.

The plan will see protected areas increased to cover 18% of the gulf, up from 6 percent.

There will be five new sea floor protection areas, where bottom trawling and drag net fishing is banned.

And there will also be new designated high protection areas, where most fishing recreational and commercial is off limits.

But there will still be large areas of the gulf designated "trawl corridors" where critics say the ocean floor will still be "bulldozed" Although the Prime Minister is not ruling out a more wide spread trawling ban.

LegaSea's Hauraki Gulf campaign spokesman Benn Winlove joins us now.