Kingfish Go Wild in Whangaroa Harbour

On Wednesday afternoon (12th July), more than 500 healthy kingfish from the failed fish farm in Parengarenga, arrived at Whangaroa Harbour in NIWA’s special kingfish transporters, hauled by Lawson Cartage.

WBGFC committee member Roger Thompson helping a disorientated fish back into the water

They had been loaded up at the fish farm and transported in NIWA’s special transporters which are thermally insulated, so that only small temperature changes occur during transport, oxygenated, and crucially, stripped of the respired carbon-dioxide from the fish. After first releasing some fish at Mangonui, the fish destined for Whangaroa arrived in very good condition at the boat ramp in Ratcliffe’s Bay. Members of the Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club, the press, and interested locals were there to watch and help with the release.

The release from the two transporters went smoothly, with some of the water being drained off first, and then sending the remaining water and fish down a large bore pipe into the sea. The released fish of 0.5kg to 2kg milled around for a while, with most finding their way out into the deeper water. A few disorientated stragglers headed for land, but were carefully coaxed back into deeper water. The harbour should provide food and shelter for these fish and time will show how they survive and progress, as 40% of the fish were tagged with miniature yellow tags as used in the gamefish tagging programme.

Thanks go to all the people and organisations involved in these kingfish releases up and down the coast, which show that commercial and recreational anglers can put something back into the local fisheries that we all use and enjoy.