So the Government has banned all recreational fishing for blue cod in the Marlborough Sounds. This follows a ban on commercial blue cod catches. The Fisheries Ministry claims that recreational anglers are catching 150 tonnes of them every year, compared with the 70-tonne commercial quota. With a three-bag limit, there must be thousands and thousands of anglers out there, thrashing the waters.

Latest ministry research shows a decline in juvenile blue cod stocks since 2004 of exactly 57 percent. This is a highly suspect calculation, because it is simply far too precise. Quite how the people responsible for this “research” can so accurately count fish in wild waters is a total mystery.