"What WAS the fishing like" in Doubtless Bay, New Zealand is the title of a year long research project. Data was obtained from historical records as well as oral interviews of old people who remembered what it was like in the past.

1. WHAT WAS THE FISHING LIKE? A collection of historical records, events, and recollections by locals. Mary Ralph New Zealand Science, Mathematics and Technology Teacher Fellow 2009 The NZSMT Teacher Fellowship Scheme funded by the New Zealand Government

2. The other side of the world New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone is one of the largest in the world.

3. Resource and Land Use Map 1980. Mangonui Council information.

4. This work is dedicated to the locals and my hosts….the Doubtless Bay Marine Protection GroupMegan Hutching – Oral HistorianAndrew Saunders – Environmental Educator This compilation is primarily a snapshot of a local area. A time-line of the history of the New Zealand fishing industry is briefly included. For a more comprehensive study, refer to Jenny Haworth & David Johnson’s HOOKED the story of the New Zealand Fishing Industry and TIDES OF CHANGE The story of the New Zealand Federation of Commercial Fishermen.

5. FORWARD Joni Mitchell once famously said that “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.” 1958 At Key West. Goliath Grouper, now endangered.

6. 1983 – Key West

7. 2007 – Key West Acknowledgement: Loren McClenachan, Monroe County Library Collection & Smithsonian.com

8. Objective: Establish an environmental history of our marine area, to find a baseline of what it was like in the past, as a management tool to assist us to make informed decisions on how to manage the future Resources: * historical records * diaries and ship’s logs * art and photos * surveys and interviews * archeological evidence * scientists / botanists * museum records & artifacts

9. Even memorials give evidence of the past…. To pre European exploration

10. For example…. Explorers: Joseph Banks (the Botanist on the Endeavour) wrote in 1769 of the ‘abundance of nets, up to 1000m long.’ 1814 – J.L. Nicholas and A Dr. Thomson noted that some of the nets were 1,000 yards long and required 500 people to draw them properly. Such nets were owned by the community. Local Maori and French sailors hauling a seine net on the beach at Russell, in 1831. Painting by BarthelemyLauvergne. Alexander Turnbull Library, B-098-005

11. For example…. Maori Fishing Traditions: Hundreds of fishing grounds were named and identified in detail, up to 25 miles at sea. Muriwhenua fishermen worked the whole of the inshore seas and workable depths were known .

12. For example…. Abundance of resources… 1890 – Grey Mullet and shellfish were supplied by Northern Maori for a canning factory at Unahi.

13. Butler’s Museum – a record of our whaling history… Whalers used Mangonuiharbour as a trading port. Cooper’s Beach is named after the ‘coopers’ whose trade it was to mend ship’s barrels. TLindo Ferguson standing beside the whaling pot found on the property.

14. WHALE HISTORY By 1700’s whales were becoming scarce in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s why whalers came down to the Pacific...explorers reported that they ‘couldn’t believe the numbers ‘. The last whale caught in the Far North was in 1904 by Te Maro Maori. The North Cape, New Zealand, and Sperm Whale Fishery (1838),

15. Even a family story. R.H. Matthews was invited to a shark fishing excursion at RangaunuHarbour twice, in 1855 and 1875. His recollections were transcribed by the Royal Society at Auckland in 1910. The traditional customs by Maori were strictly observed and rigidly enforced by the chief and surrounding tribes.

16. 7,000 sharks were landed. The dried sharks were stacked in food-houses like fire-wood. Shark oil was used in a variety of ways. For carvings and cosmetics. This address was read-out in full by Warren Matthews in 2009 on a radio broadcast. A complete copy can be found at the Far North Museum or searched for on www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports

17. Large group fishing activities declined after the late 1800’s but Maori continue to fish to sustain their families today. This whanau is drying snapper in the sun, before packing in flax kete. Taupo Bay, 1902.

18. Photos and art testify to a way of life… Early settlers mixed farming and fishing for sustenance and sale. Mangrove estuary in Northland.

19. Even Buildings have history…MANGONUI FISH SHOP The best fish and chips in the world. Started trading in 1940. Built over the water.

20. Now.. about my Project… There is the assumption that time and development have taken a toll on our sea's natural resources.

21. My first objective… To interview old timers concerning a basic question: "Just what was fishing like XX years ago?" Also, the memory reflections from those old enough to have been engaging in this activity 50 or more years ago are worth preserving.

22. After identifying subjects and engaging each in conversation they are preserved on a digital recording device. After editing they are broadcasts on stations in the DBFR/Far North Radio Network and Kaitaia's KCR radio service.

23. The following is an example of …. What they said.

24. What they said…. In the 1960’s you would see large flocks of birds and acres of fish. Brodie’s Creek was a particularly good place to fish. I could spear up to 25 red moki an hour. Once I caught 18 crays in 6 minutesBeach. Fred Flowers, Cooper’s Beach, with a 17lb ‘Packy’ caught off Matauri Bay, 1961.

25. When I first started diving at Matai Bay (2001), it looked like the place was strewn with cobwebs because of all the fishing line everywhere. I was part of a team of ‘cleaners’ who have collected up to 500kgs of lead, kilometers of fishing line and nets. In contrast to what it must have been like…. it has been stripped and over-fished. Andre Kunz. Whatawhiwhi.

26. Growing up at Waiari Bay, KarikariPenninsula (early 1900’s)…we were self sufficient, there was plenty of fish, we never went hungry. Millie Windlebourn. Kaitaia. Millie’s school at Rangiawhia . Photo: Northwood Collection

27. In 1973 I realised that fishing in New Zealand was far better than anything I had ever experienced in other parts of the world (after losing six lures, all on big fish on the beach). Mark Feldman (DrMed). Kerikeri and USA.

28. Karikari Peninsula was ‘untouched’ in the 1960’s. There is a warm current that occasionally hits the top of the Cape. You used to see sub-tropical fish, turtles, sea snakes spotted groper. Swordfish would come into the Bay. Alex (Dobby) Dobbins.

29. As a commercial fisherman in 1951 I would handline snapper and lift Cray pots by hand. There were about 65 boats fishing then. Now there are just 2 fishing for snapper. It’s not economical for commercial fishermen now. Malcolm MacMillan, Cooper’s Beach.

30. I would take out diving parties to the Pinnacles off Brodie’s Creek they would liken it to parts of the Poor Knights with the colour and fish life. Divers would be so enthusiastic and happy with their dive. But fishermen with gill nets used to target these areas. It was very disappointing to see. Doug McColl, Cooper’s Beach . Northwood Collection

31. It was a totally pristine environment on the West Coast around Reef Point in the 1960’s. The stocks of crayfish and paua were so abundant in shallow water they could just bob for whatever they wanted. No need for a mask, it was their (Maori) diving method to touch and feel. Laurie Austin, Awanui. . Northwood Collection

32. I remember an abundance of fish. As a boy I would make nets with scavenged materials and catch fish up rivers. I’ve observed many changes over the years and am very concerned about the loss of the sandy foreshore from Pukewhai to Rangiputa, today it is thick with mangroves. 100 Year old shark shed. Once a place where 40 foot boats unloaded their catch, now surrounded by reclaimed salt marsh and mangroves. . Bronco Urlich, Kaiangaroa,

33. We lived off the Mangonuiharbour in the 1950’s. It was full of shellfish; so abundant with pipis. There were huge cockles at Dacre’s Point (Butler Point) I believe they are not there today. We used to flounder in the upper harbour, now it is so silted up you would flounder! Once, on the Hihi side of the harbour, we caught so many mullet in a dingy there was no freeboard. We lived off the Mangonuiharbour in the 1950’s. It was full of shellfish and pipis. We used to flounder in the upper harbour, now it is so silted up you would flounder! Once, on the Hihi side of the harbour, we caught so many mullet in a dingy there was no freeboard.

34. Fishing off Ninety-mile beach when I was a boy (in the 1950’s) was amazing, we would get toheroa. It was so easy to catch snapper. There was a saying….. “You’d better bait your hook up by the sand-dunes, otherwise something would jump on it.” Richard Matthews, Kaitaia.

35. There was so much native bush that it would stop the sludge coming down into the river and sea. The sea was blue. I do not remember colour discoloration of the sea after a big rain that you see today. In the old days the whole place was bubbling with school fish. It’s like a desert today. WhitiAwarau, Awanui.

36. In the 1950’s Dad fished mullet and sharks. He would get 140 a night. They would be filleted and sent to Yovich’s in Awanui. I am really concerned about the encroachment of mangroves and the flooding they are causing further inland because they are silting up the rivers. Tommy Walker, Unahi. Same spot, 2009. You used to be able to tie up a 40 ft boat here. 1950’s Tommy on deck of dad’s boat.

37. The numbers and size of kahawai/plankton/bird feeding melees have decreased dramatically since the mid-late 1980’s. This coincided exactly with the huge increase in commercial fishing purse seine vessels on kahawai (which no quota applied). Lew Ritchie, Matapouri. .

38. I would fish out on the North Ground where you would see acres of kahawai and trevally– they’d have their heads out of the water eating krill. By the mid 1980’s trawlers targeted those favourite spots and now you may not catch a feed, it’s an example of where overfishing can take us. Mark Frear, ex Totara North boy.

39. There were shoals of snapper, trevally and kahawai. People don’t believe me, but the whole of the East Coast was like that – a marvelous sight. Grant Silvester(born 1917) Hihi. Watercolour by Faye Silvester.

40. In the 1970’s I could walk into the sea an hour before lunch and get fresh fish by midday. We would go around the rocks (Reef Pt.) to get mussels and in among the weeds for paua too. I have speared hundreds of flounder but I loved white baiting most.. I would catch about 75lb a year. Kath Johnston, Ahipara Grandma surf casting.

41. Fishing is better now, since the Quota System. I am the only crayfisherman from Houhora to the Cavallis, there used to be 12. I give my pot spots a rest then I go back to them after a few years. Bruce Sanderson, Totara North.

42. You could catch snapper up the Oruaiti river at a place called Paiparaki, past KenenaMarae. Also eels and whitebait. JohnMatthews, KenenaMarae.

43. DATA ON FISH STOCKS, 1985

46. Compare this data: 1980 = 707 tonnes snapper 2007 = 154 tonnes snapper In 1980-83 season 49 boats operated from Mangonui. In 2009 there are only 9 but only 1 snapper longliner.

47. Graphs reflect history too…

48. EARLY CONSERVATION A rahui could be applied to allow heavily-fished area. It was forbidden to dump waste into the water. 1865 concern that Picton’s herrings would be fished out. 1866 leases introduced to stop overharvesting of oyster beds. 1884 The Fisheries Conservation Bill passed. 1903 fishermen petitioned to prevent trawling within 3 miles of land 1905 trawling was banned in some areas. 1926 grounds were closed to any form of netting during spawning season. Up to the late 1950’s the Marine Department conserved fisheries through restrictive licensing. Good catches in the early days. Southland Museum & Art Gallery.

49. 1963 the end of restrictive licensing, permits introduced instead. Some fishermen considered this ‘open slather’. 1964 Fisheries Research established 1965 the 12 mile limit was adopted. 1978 200-mile exclusive zone declared. 1986 Quota system. 1975 1stMarine Reserve at Leigh. Overcrowding. Commercial Fishing. April 1983 Overfishing. Orange roughy. SeaFIC

51. Noticeable change in reduced number of sea urchin/kina (kina are grazers of kelp

52. provides base-line information for researchers

54. Long may we all experience the pleasure of ….’Gone fishing’.