in July
Our monthly monitoring is going well. Generally fishing the deployed reef produces twice the number of fish as in the control area of similar depth.You can check our first hand accounts on www.rankers.co.nz and go to marine life tours.
in March
Feb saw another reef deployed, this one built by volunteers from the Opotiki Coast Guard, most of whom are also keen fishermen. The last item to be deployed is a ceramic photo disc. See pic. Well done team.
in December 2008
The required Environmental Resource Consent for the project was gained in October 2007.
The first REAF ( Recreated Enhanced Area for Fish) was deployed in Nov 2007. Around 2 tonnes of enhancement modules were deployed from a 16 foot (5m) recreational boat by two of us over a fortnight. This places seabed enhancement within the capability of many fishermen with boats. No diving needed.
April 2008 The once almost barren area is now fishing consistently well with plenty of fish usually being caught within two hours. More encouraging is the amount of juvenile fish appearing and diversity of species appearing.
Funding to help introduce the concept of seabed enhancement by working with six community groups, is awarded by Environment Bay of Plenty Regional Council (NZ) Environmental Enhancement Fund.
May 9 2008 Opotiki hosts Global issues doco film festival"
May 8 2008 Opotiki News article on the increasing fish abundance and diversity being experienced at the Opotiki Community Reef site.
May 11. Symposium on threatened NZ native fresh water species, with a focus on eels, is held in neighboring Whakatane.
May 15. Crazy talk on the radio News this morning about the possibility of petrol prices doubling to $4 litre within the next two years.
Sat 24 May. Fellow Coast Guard volunteer John relayed that he caught a good John Dory in the vicinity of one of the REAFs deployed. Although reasonably common elsewhere, in a decade of fishing out of Opotiki I have never caught a single one myself. Reports of such catch diversity affirm our efforts.
May 25. Response from Hon Jim Anderton, Minister of Fisheries that "The Ministry's role has been to enable these activities(enhancement) rather than fund or undertake them. I do not see this role changing."
in November 2008
To catch tarakihi out from Opotiki one usually needs to travel some distance, out to the 50m depths. On a recent fishing trip we caught 2 sizeable tarakihi on a deployed reef at 20m, along with an ever increasing diversity of species including gurnard, snapper, trevalli and a skate.
in July 2008
REAF fishing well, even in mid winter, traditionally a 'hard' fishing time. Included in catch was a frost fish , a deep sea species I've never caught in this area before. A delicacy. Photo posted.
