The spear-fisherman who discovered a number of dead fish near Great Barrier Island says there needs to be tighter limits for commercial and recreational fishing. A video posted to social media shows dead fish floating on top of the water. The spear-fisherman who took the video, Darren Shields, said it's not the first time he had seen something like that. Shields wanted to see a limit to fish added to the quota system. "Illegal discarding of fish from commercial vessels is relatively rare because of the prevalence of on-board cameras on many vessels and because we are able to track the movements of vessels in near real time.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 06, 2026 12:47 UTC