7 Dec 2013

Longfin eel survival not in danger - commercial fishers

9:09 am on 7 December 2013

The commercial eel industry says a new review shows longfin eel numbers have stabilised and there is no cause for alarm over its survival.

A international panel has reviewed the scientific data used by the Ministry of Primary Industry to guide the management of eel fisheries.

The independent review was carried out after Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright called for a moratorium on harvesting the eels to prevent their extinction.

The review panel says there is a high probability the number of eels has dropped due to culling, damming and fishing, though the decline has slowed or even halted in the last decade. As well, it finds the way the eel population is monitored is limited, and a more comprehensive approach is needed.

A consultant for the commercial eel industry, Bill Chisholm, says Ms Wright should retract her statement that the endemic eels are headed towards extinction.

"She's refused to admit that she allowed herself to be misguided by extremists. Now that the international peer review panel has come out with its findings we think that the Parliamentary Commissioner should retract her statement that the longfin eel is on a slow path towards extinction."

Whangarei's River Patrol founder Millan Ruka says the new report is at odds with what Maori and eel fishers are reporting in Northland.

Mr Ruka says a recent NIWA report found longfins were only 22% of the eel population in rivers where Maori remember them as the dominant species.

He said the scientists did not draw on Maori knowledge of the fishery and their findings reflect a lack of reliable data for the region, and says longfin numbers in Northland have declined steadily since streams were polluted by deforestation and farming.

Whangarei commercial eel fisher Glen Hansen agrees that longfin numbers are well down on what they were when he began catching them 25 years ago, but shortfins are plentiful.

The scientists on the review panel have recommended the Ministry of Primary Industries strengthen its monitoring of the eel fishery and improve its data gathering.