Five years after the earthquake which devastated seabeds along the Kaikōura coastline, people are once again able to gather pāua from its shores.
Some of the pāua caught by diver David Rae on the first day of the season. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
The fishery reopened on 1 December for a three-month period and will be closely monitored to measure the effect on the population.
Pāua diver David Rae was among those who took to the sea on the first day of the season.
"First happy day for quite some time. Five long years that we've not been able to dive here and we've always appreciated the reasons why. But we're now happy to be back in and everything's looking pretty good.
"It's like turning the clock back, nice, big fish and plenty of them."
Paua diver David Rae. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Rae has been commercially diving since 1987, along the Kaikōura coast and in the Chatham Islands and is a deputy chair of the Paua Management Action Committees (PauaMac3).
He can recall the devastation on the coast when the sun rose after the quake on 14 November, five years ago.
"It was quite a frightening scene, actually, there was quite a lot of death and displacement and it was quite heart-sickening ... and we were all devastated.
"On top of it all everyone had their own issues with housing, electricity and water supply, but then to have your income sort of just disappearing on you as well was a double blow."
Rae is also a member of Te Korowai O Te Tai Ō Marokura, a group that advocates for the use and protection of Kaikōura's marine environment.
Chair Rachel Vaughan said it was clear after the earthquake the fishery needed to close so the environment could recover, but part of the community's grief was linked to the fact they could no longer gather shellfish from the coast.
Te Korowai o Te Tai ō Marokura chair Rachel Vaughan. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Te Korowai sought feedback from the community and took it to the government, lobbying for the fishery to be reopened.
"There was a range of opinion, some in the community wanted to conserve and be very cautious about the reopening and some people were very keen to be allowed to fish and gather the shellfish, particularly paua and kina again.
"People need to be respectful of the environment and realise that they should only take enough for a feed, because if there is a gold rush mentality, and people strip our coastline, then that will be obvious through the monitoring that MPI does and unfortunately our season will be cut short."
Many parts of the Kaikōura coastline have been closed to paua gathering since the earthquake in 2016. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
The organisation works alongside the Kaikōura Marine Guardians, established by the Kaikōura Marine Management Act 2014 and appointed by the Conservation and Primary Industries ministers.
The Guardians presented a set of recommendations to the Ministry for Primary Industries in May which led to the three month season.
Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker said it was the first time a fishery had been closed as the result of an earthquake. Since then, research and monitoring had shown pāua was recovering and could support some limited harvesting
"The health of the fishery will be measured before and after the initial reopening period to assess the effect on pāua populations. This will be supported by independent research of recreational fishing along the coastline. That work will give us the information we need to make a decision on next steps."
Parts of the Kaikōura coastline were uplifted during the earthquake, displacing pāua and other sea life. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
The new catch limit for recreational fishermen is five blackfoot pāua per day with a maximum of ten for a multi-day trip with the minimum legal size of 125 millimetres remaining.
New commercial catch limits had also been set in the recently subdivided quota management areas in Kaikōura and Canterbury.
The boat ramp at South Bay, Kaikōura. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
MPI fisheries compliance regional manager Howard Reid said the earthquake significantly changed the marine environment, with a big loss of pāua habitat.
"There's been some really good signs of recovery, we've got post-earthquake recruits moving into the breeding population. That's demonstrated in the science that's been going on since the earthquakes.
"There's so we're taking a really cautious approach to this reopening, hence the lower bag limit and the short period."
MPI fisheries compliance regional manager Howard Reid. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Additional fisheries officers will be on the ground in Kaikōura, to help communicate the rules and make sure people were abiding by them.
Commercial diver, spearfisherman and underwater cameraman Sam Wild was pleased to see the fishery reopening so people could enjoy the resource again, but would have liked to have seen the minimum size for pāua increased from 125mm.
"The way the fisheries are looked after over in the Chathams and here in New Zealand, the commercial limit is bigger than the recreational limit and that's to help look after the fishery just keep the paua in the water just a little bit longer to help them reproduce.
"It would have been nice to see the size limit bumped up to help achieve that, but at the same time, it's it's awesome that it's opened up and they've dropped the catch limit down to five."
He said he would hate to see gains made in the last five years, undone in a three-month period.
Kaikōura Hunting & Fishing has been busy in the lead up to opening day with people stocking up on pāua measurers, knives and wetsuits.
Kaikōura Hunting & Fishing director Anton Evans. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Director Anton Evans said it was good to be able to welcome people back to Kaikōura after what had been a tough five years for many.
"It's just good to see everybody back and families being able to feed themselves again, and also have a fishery open which has been shut for five years.
"So that's a milestone, it's awesome."
