Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash is facing the biggest call of his ministerial career so far when he announces his decision on the CRA2  crayfishery on April 1.

The CRA 2 fishery includes the Hauraki Gulf, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty.

A stock assessment last year found crayfish numbers are so low that a plan is required to rebuild the stock.

Legasea is calling for a complete ban on all crayfishing, and insists the CRA2 fishery from Te Arai Point, near Leigh, through to East Cape has collapsed.

Legasea says the warning signs have been there and the science has been fudged in order to allow continued commercial fishing.

They describe the situation as ‘dire’, and say the quickest way to restore abundance is to close this fishery until it rebuilds and the ecosystem function is restored.

Lagasea spokesman Scott Macindoe says many recreational divers have simply given up.

The CRA2 recreational allowance is 140 tonnes and they are taking only 35-40 tonnes.

“The public can no longer reliably get a feed,” says Scott.

Mount Dive Club captain Russ Hawkins says club divers’ catches have been very poor over the last six-to-eight years.

“We would come back from a fish and hardly have a crayfish between the 12 of us,” says Russ.

“It has changed dramatically.

“But having said that, I attended a meeting in November in Whakatane among commercial recreational and customary fishers, where they were told the shortage may be a cyclical thing.

“We have got to give the local commercial guys credit for taking a cut from 236 tonnes down to 200, and then taking a further voluntary cut from 200 to 150 in the last season just finishing.

“Those guys have spent a lot of money on research at their own expense.

So all I’m saying is we can’t jump up and down and blame commercial.

Some of those guys have fished for 30 years locally and they want to look after it just as much as we do.

”While there has been a downturn over recent years, there are signs of a recovery in the last couple of months, says Russ.

“They have looked at puerulus larvae counts, the little tiny crayfish, and that seemed to be increasing in the last three or four months, which hasn’t happened in previous years.

“MPI will probably bring in further cuts for commercial and recreation and we’ve got to take it on the chin.

“My thinking is that four crayfish per person should be enough, as an example to try and help the overall situation.

”New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council CEO Mark Edwards says it is too early for information on puerulus to usefully inform the management process.

“What is available now is a revised and improved stock assessment that will be used by all the interested parties and the Minister of Fisheries to make a decision before April 1 on revised management arrangements for CRA 2,” says Mark.

The consultation paper put out by the Ministry of Primary Industries recommends a range of reductions in the current catch, but not a complete closure.

There are also no proposals for sub-area management – splitting CRA 2 into different areas.

For a long time the NZRLIC has had an extensive information collection procedure in place via a log book programme and catch sampling, says Mark.

It produces additional data outside of the normal reporting to better inform management.

“They have also paid for a pretty extensive tag and release programme, which is really important for finding out about the growth of lobsters which informs the stock assessment,” he says.

“It is different in different areas around New Zealand, which means you have to have that local information in order to tune the management settings.

“What the industry has funded and invested in over the last couple of decades is really important information.

“That’s why the industry has made those really extensive investments in the stock monitoring.

They are in it for the long term.

“In the Bay of Plenty, they are small family businesses who have been in the fishery for generations.

They have got a huge commitment to that fishery and to getting that fishery in a healthy state.

“It’s not where we want it to be right now, so we need to put that re-build strategy in place.

“I guess what was really encouraging about November’s forum, and another in Thames, was that we are united in contributing to get that fishery back in shape.

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