Hello all

The days are tracking and much progress is being made as we tick the boxes of all we have to do.
This has included getting all the Bio Security and Mfish approvals to release and the curly one permission for recreational fishers to be in possession of undersize fish.

At this point I must acknowledge the great support we are receiving from Parengarenga Fishfarm limited, current home to these kingfish in the far north. And in doing so I am guilty of repeating some miss- information, so for the record I would like to have it recorded that Parengarenga Fishfarm Limited has not gone into receivership as was first quoted by mainstream media and picked up by us.
The company is ceasing operations and is disposing of the fish prior to carrying out repairs in preparation for presenting the facility for sale. To be able to do this the fish in the farm needed to be either sold or disposed of. Subsequent to this we have come along with an offer to purchase all the fish identified as being suitable for release into the wild. This offer has been accepted and we are now in the process of finalising all the arrangements and paperwork to complete the task.

When I first kicked this project into gear the enormity of the task ahead escaped me and as we advance further into making it a reality, Many new challenges keep presenting themselves, just to keep me honest.

The task of transporting large numbers say many many thousands of small live fish (fingerlings less that 100mm) around the country is risky at the best of times and requires specialist equipment. This equipment has been developed and NIWA have the ability to transport these little fellows long distances. As the fish grow in size the numbers and distance must be reduced as the risk is increased. The ability to transport large numbers of larger fish is a major challenge in itself, but one that can be done with care.

NIWA has been amazing with their professional advise and expertise and offer of using their live fish transport tanks and professional assistance to ensure the fish travel safely. Lawson Transport who have the professional knowledge of transporting live fish in these tanks on our roads have come onboard to assist. The task of transporting live fish as a cargo is significantly different to that of freight or logs. The truck must travel at smooth speeds and easy in the bends. Create a washing machine effect and the fish will stress out reducing their chances of recovery essential for their initial acclimatisation and survival once released.
To complete the team Sanford Limited with their generous commitment means we can now carry out the expensive and critical part of the project, tagging, transport and release. Yes this is becoming a big team effort and it never ceases to amaze me just how willing folk are to assist. My thanks to all.
For without this sort of support this project would not have got to the second base.

We now have the offer of two smaller 1000lt live fish tanks from Aquahort and when we can fit these to a smaller truck this will greatly assist in getting smaller amounts of larger fish into local areas in the first instance and then further a field once they get the hang of it. More on this later.

Pledges are continuing with donation payments starting to arrive. Please send these payments in now as we are in the position of starting to pay our costs in this project.

Follows are copies of two applications which will give you additional info and save repeating.

Once again I thank you all for your support of this worth while project.

Regards
Keith

Keith Ingram
President

28 June 2006

Application to release juvenile kingfish into the wild.

On behalf of the NZ Recreational Fishing Council and its “Kingfish go wild” campaign in association with Sanford Limited and NIWA, I would seek your approval to release these NIWA bred juvenile kingfish currently held at the on growing facility at Parengarenga marine farm in the far north. These fish are being purchased by the “Kingfish go wild” project for release in to the wild as an exercise to potentially improve our knowledge of future localised kingfish enhancement on behalf of the public good.
The fish selected as being suitable for release will vary in size and will be released at sites near to the farm for larger fish and for the smaller fish which will have the ability to travel further south to suitable sites including the Noises group of island in the Hauraki Gulf.

We are currently waiting for a best estimate inventory of the range of fish sizes currently held in the farm and once this is available we will forward this information along with confirmed sites and numbers once released. This should be received by tomorrow.

Given that you have the best health information of the fish stock from NIWA who will be in charge of identifying the suitable fish which will have the best opportunity of transiting the change into the wild I can offer no further comment other than say the farm to our best knowledge is currently disease free and until closure is still exporting chilled fish through its normal channels.

We will also be tagging a portion of these fish (20%) for two purposes. First to determine survival and to determine whether these fish will stay locally and become resident fish for future enhancement opportunities.
Second to gain a knowledge from recovered fish of health, size growth and movement.
The fish tags will carry an individual number and PO Box 19747 marking on one side and opposite will be marked www.kingfishgowild.co.nz
We are committed to keep this web site alive and to provide an on line reporting ability for all tagged captures in the future. These reports will also appear on the web site

NIWA personnel will be supervising the selection, tagging, transport and release program.

Temperature recordings will be done at all sites and the fish will under go a short transition period to adjust to temperature changes. We anticipate that these changes will not be greater than what they would experience naturally in the wild through natural movement.

All mortalities (floaters) that occur at the time or within 30 mins after the release will be recovered recorded and then packed for disposal as commercial bait.

Alternative arrangements are being made with the farm management for the disposal of fish not identified as suitable for release and these arrangements are progressing well.

I hope this meets with your approval. We will of course be maintaining a close liaison with Mfish on progress throughout this project.

We anticipate having the Minister of Fisheries formally open the release program.

Please give me a call if you need further information.

Kind regards

Keith

District Compliance Manager
Mfish
Auckland

Dear Sir

As you are no doubt aware, we are in the process of a salvage project to release a large number of kingfish into the wild. Please check out www.kingfishgowild.co.nz for the full story and updates.

We currently have an application in to Mfish and Bio Security to release large numbers of larger fish from .5kg up to 2kgs into the wild on the north east coast from the far north to the Hauraki Gulf. As you can understand this process is with some added risk due to fish size and with it some mortalities are expected. This being the case we will have volunteers at each site to recover all mortalities. These will be retained and bought ashore for packing and disposal as commercial bait. These fish have been purchased by the Kingfish go wild project from the farm for release.

This being the case and because these fish will be recovered from the sea near our release sites, we will need a letter of consent from Mfish compliance, for our dedicated mortality recovery teams, granting them permission to be in possession of undersize kingfish in accordance with the amateur fishing regulations.

I thank you for your assistance.

Kind regards

Keith

NEXT >>>>>>>