The Primary Industries Ministry has received about 50,000 submissions on a controversial proposal to reduce the number of snapper people in the north of the country can catch.
Friday was the deadline for submissions on the proposed policy, which would reduce the recreational daily limit from nine per person to as few as three.
It applies to the Snapper 1 fishery, extending from the Bay of Plenty to the Far North.
A spokesperson for Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says only 1500 of the submissions are from individuals; the rest are form submissions from petitions and websites.
Recreational fishing advocacy group LegaSea says about 47,000 of the submissions were sent through its website.
LegaSea spokesperson Mandy Kupenga says the issue is not so much about daily bag limits as about protecting people's legal rights to have first access and priority to the Snapper 1 fishery.
She says the issue has raised awareness about how the country's fisheries are managed.
Mr Guy's spokesperson says the ministry will now collate and consider all the submissions and advise the minister, who will take the options to Cabinet for discussion.
A final decision on snapper limits will be made before the new fishing season starts on 1 October.
