Review of sustainability measures for spiny rock lobster (CRA 3 and CRA 7) – April 2026 round

Updates

26 March 2026 – Minister's decisions released

Following consultation, the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries has made decisions on sustainability measures for:

CRA 3 (Gisborne, East Cape, and Māhia)
CRA 7 (Otago) spiny rock lobster fisheries
Southern blue whiting (SBW 6B) fishery (refer to the separate consultation for SBW 6B)

We have released the minister's decision letter, which provides further details and reasons for each of the decisions. We've also published summaries of the decisions for each stock.

Minister's decision letter [PDF, 376 KB]

Fisheries New Zealand will soon release the advice papers we prepared for these stocks and the submissions received during public consultation.

Summary table of the minister's decisions

Species	Stock/area	Summary of decisions
Rock lobster (kōura)	CRA 7 Otago	Increase the TAC from 137.5 to 161.6 tonnes Increase the TACC from 111.5 to 133.4 tonnes Increase the allowance for all other mortality caused by fishing from 11 to 13.2 tonnes Retain the allowances for customary and recreational fishing at 10 and 5 tonnes, respectively
Rock lobster (kōura)	CRA 3 Gisborne, East Cape, and Māhia	Decrease the TAC from 244 to 172 tonnes Decrease the TACC from 156 to 107 tonnes Decrease the allowance for all other mortality caused by fishing from 60 to 37 tonnes Retain the allowances for customary and recreational fishing at 20 and 8 tonnes, respectively
Southern blue whiting	SBW 6B	Retain the TAC at 4,988 tonnes Retain the TACC at 4,888 tonnes Retain the allowance for all other mortality caused by fishing at 100 tonnes Retain the allowances for customary and recreational fishing at 0 tonnes

12 January 2026 – Legal appendix added

A supporting document was added with information on the interpretation and application of the statutory considerations relevant to TAC decisions.

See the legal appendix

Consultation background

Fisheries New Zealand sought feedback on proposed changes to sustainability measures for 2 rock lobster stocks as part of the April 2026 sustainability round.

We invited feedback from tangata whenua, stakeholders, and the public on these proposed changes. Consultation opened on 15 December 2025 and closed at 5pm on Wednesday 28 January 2026.

About the proposed changes

Fisheries New Zealand reviews catch limits for selected stocks twice a year. This is consistent with the purpose of the Fisheries Act 1996 to allow for sustainable utilisation.

Fisheries New Zealand was reviewing the catch limits and allowances for:

spiny rock lobster (CRA 3) – Gisborne/East Cape/Māhia
spiny rock lobster (CRA 7) – Otago.

Fisheries New Zealand was also reviewing sustainability measures for Southern blue whiting (SBW 6B) as a part of this sustainability round. Consultation for SBW 6B was expected to begin by mid-January 2026 and was to close later than this consultation.

All of the proposals in this round were assessed:

in the context of the relevant statutory requirements
using the best available information, including the latest scientific information on the status of the stocks and tangata whenua and stakeholder input.

Full details were in the consultation documents.

Table: Summary of the proposals and consultation documents

Species	Stock/area	Proposal	Consultation document
Spiny rock lobster / kōura papatea	CRA 3	TAC ↓	Review of sustainability measures for spiny rock lobster (CRA 3) for 2026/27 [PDF, 2.4 MB]
Spiny rock lobster / kōura papatea	CRA 7	TAC ↑	Review of sustainability measures for spiny rock lobster (CRA 7) for 2026/27 [PDF, 2.1 MB]

Supporting document

Legal Appendix: Overview of legislative requirements and other considerations in relation to sustainability measures, April 2026 round [PDF, 395 KB]

Submissions are public information

Note that all, part, or a summary of your submission may be published on this website. Most often this happens when we issue a document that reviews the submissions received.

People can also ask for copies of submissions under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the content of submissions available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your submission or contact us. Reasons may include that it discloses commercially sensitive or personal information. However, any decision MPI makes to withhold details can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

Official Information Act 1982 – NZ Legislation