Matt Watson's Footage Exposes Illegal Fish Dumping

Recently on the news there have been a number of stories surrounding the Korean fishing vessel Oyang 77 and the practice of fish dumping in NZ coastal waters. Presenter of The ITM Fishing Show, Matt Watson, has been quick to condemn the practice and has offered up his own footage documenting this illegal practice; only it was filmed much closer to home, in the Hauraki Gulf. "Most kiwis find this sort of blatant waste of our precious seafood abhorrent.

Watson, a conservationist and campaigner for sustainable fishing, was filming a show promoting a new fishing tournament format he had developed when he came across the hundreds of dead and dying snapper floating on the surface.

This new tournament format is based on measuring the fish with the top prizes going to the longest fish, not the heaviest. The fish is photographed on a measuring board as proof of capture and does not have to be brought in. The decision is then with the angler who can decide to release or keep the fish according to their conscience and needs. "Fishing tournaments are great to get people engaged in fishing and the marine environment" states Watson. "My only beef with them is they encourage participants to take more fish than they want or need."

On May the 26th this format will be introduced to NZ anglers in an episode of The ITM Fishing Show filmed in the Hauraki Gulf, NZ's most popular recreational fishing area. The underwater footage shows that there is still plenty of snapper in the Hauraki Gulf, and the ease in which Watson and his crew hook into the big ones is encouraging. But Watson warns against complacency in the management and protection of our fisheries resources "The inshore fishery can't sustain overfishing, so if it is a commercial fisher over fishing quota's and dumping fish, or a group of recreational fishers taking more fish than they need and wasting them, it's all the same to the ocean."

Public anger and more reports of illegal fish dumping have emerged since the TV3 news item aired. To view the footage and see comments and reports on fish dumping visit The ITM Fishing Show Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/TheITMFishingShow?ref=ts

ENDS

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