Without exception all these conferences are important to attend as we lead into an election year. The Recreational Fishing Council conference is the key one to attend for those want to hear what all the party leaders have to say regarding protecting our marine resources and encouraging fishing opportunities and aquaculture, while ensuring the public maintains full and reasonable access to our marine resources. On this note, I must record that relationships between commercial fishers and the amateur or recreational fishing sector have much improved lately, primarily due to the efforts of stakeholder leaders wishing to resolve complex issues before they get out of hand. A recent example that should not go unnoticed was an eastern Bay of Plenty experience where the purse seiner Captain Souza very efficiently went about encircling a large meatball on which tuna were feeding. A prominent charterboat was also working this meatball, and several recreational vessels had to promptly leave their fishing activities to escape from being trapped in the net. A fast and efficient commercial fishing activity, yes. An outrage by the recreational anglers, yes. The owners of this vessel responded within 24 hours of the complaint by anglers by recalling the vessel to Nelson. This single action in response to an outrage has done much to cement respect for the commercial vessel's owner, Peter Talley. Meanwhile, Sanfords, which also operates a number of purse seiners on the New Zealand coast, has advised that they had instructed their vessel's skippers to stay out of this small eastern Bay of Plenty fishery. A spirit of cooperation, yes. Will voluntary agreements continue to work in the future? Only time will tell. But at least while all stakeholders are talking and demonstrating respect for each other's positions, I am sure that there will always be an amicable way to resolve potentially conflicting situations.

The doozy to pop up this month was the recent landing of five striped marlin and one blue marlin in a New Zealand port which were then offered to the Auckland fish markets and sold. The fishing vessel concerned had been fishing the Wanganella Bank north of the Three Kings, outside the 200-mile limit. This is not the first time we have seen striped marlin for sale in New Zealand fish shops. But it is the first time a vessel has targeted marlin and landed them openly in a New Zealand port. Was the skipper doing anything wrong? In the eyes of many recreational gamefishers, yes. And you can hear the squeals emanating from the sports clubs. So it is probably appropriate that we clarify the legal situation as it currently stands. I understand that since 1993 there has always been the provision for commercial fishers to land marlin caught outside our Exclusive Economic Zone, as long as they meet the criteria. For a New Zealand-registered vessel to fish outside the 200-mile economic zone they need a high seas permit and a fishing permit. When fishing for highly migratory species, they need to register their vessel on the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Register. If they are landing their catch at a New Zealand port, the vessel must either carry an observer or have a vessel monitoring system activated. Otherwise, everything they land in New Zealand is deemed to be taken in New Zealand fisheries waters. Vessels which intend to fish both the EEZ and the high seas on the same voyage have to carry an observer. Vessels permitted to fish on the high seas must also supply accurate catch records and statistical fishing areas, the same as they have to when fishing inside the 200-mile EEZ. Was the vessel which recently landed these marlin fishing legally? Only the master and the Ministry of Fisheries compliance monitoring team will be able to tell. But we must assume that given these fish were landed in New Zealand waters and sold in the local markets that the fishermen were operating in accordance with their permits.

The other concern expressed by amateur gamefishers is that if commercial fishers grow in number and continue to target marlin on the high seas as they migrate towards New Zealand waters, this will erode the access rights of recreational fishers and destroy the spirit of the billfish moratorium. I understand that the New Zealand Big Gamefishing Council is investigating the situation.

Keith Ingram, Editor

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Ritchie Blomfield, the voice of Russell Radio, died suddenly but peacefully on March 26.

Many people will only have known Ritchie through his radio work but he had half a lifetime before that developing his unparalleled knowledge of the Bay of Islands, boats, the sea and the elements. Ritchie Blomfield was born on January 27, 1927 to Les and Marjorie Blomfield. His mother, Marjorie, died when he was two, and Les later married Nora, who effectively became the only mother Ritchie had known.

Les Blomfield was one of the pioneer gamefishermen of the Bay of Islands and his grandfather, EC Blomfield, was a yachtsman of note who once owned the keeler Ariki. So Ritchie had a very early introduction to the sea. After attending Russell Primary School and Whangarei Boys High School, Ritchie went to work for the US military in Auckland during the latter part of the Second World War. He serviced trucks, jeeps and forklifts on the Auckland waterfront and picked up many of his mechanical skills there. On returning to Russell after the war he obtained his skipper's ticket and began his long association with the pioneering launch operators AE Fuller & Sons. At that time Fullers were involved in many diverse activities. A work week might well include sand, shingle or livestock barging, gamefishing, linefishing, water taxi trips, tourist excursions, maintenance work and ferry work. Ritchie was in his element. His skills were being honed, but not by academic study. He was learning by doing. Shortly after his 21st birthday, Ritchie felt the need to see something of the world, and he signed on as a deck boy on the Port Line ship Port Quebec. He called at ports in Fiji, Panama, the United States, Canada and Australia during a six-month voyage.

No doubt this was a bit of an eye opener for the boy from Russell, and he was the source of many drinking yarns with his mates when he returned to his Fuller's job. As a young man Ritchie was a bit of a hellraiser. There was a family joke that if you spelled his initials (REEB - Richard Eustace Edward Blomfield) backwards the word you got was beer. Tells it all, really.

In 1950 life changed for Ritchie when he met a young woman from Te Aroha who was working at the celebrated Duke of Marlborough Hotel. Olive Cullen and Ritchie Blomfield married in 1951 and had four daughters; Penny, Janet, Marjorie and Lynda. Shortly after his marriage Ritchie bought a general carrying business from the Arlidge Brothers - Francis and Mervyn, who were themselves renowned gamefishermen from the Zane Grey era of the 1920s. Being away from the sea didn't agree with him, though, and he sold the truck after a year or two and returned to Fullers. In 1956 Ritchie bought the gamefishing launch Aquarius, and quickly built up a huge client base. Probably his most notable client was the late Kura Beale, the doyenne of female gamefishers, who at one time held seven world fishing records. Olive also enjoyed gamefishing, and for a brief time Olive and Ritchie simultaneously held world records for yellowtail taken on 12lb line. After many happy and successful years gamefishing, Ritchie sold the Aquarius and returned (again) to Fullers, this time as their operations manager and later as the slipway manager.

When he was made redundant from Fullers in 1980 he took over his father's launch, the Avalon, and operated that for several years, resuming his fishing partnership with Kura Beale and other old clients until ill health forced him to sell the Avalon {pictured above] and retire from the sea. It's very fitting that the Avalon is now on permanent display in the International Game Fishing Association museum in Florida.

It was during his time with Fullers in the early 1950s that Ritchie first became acquainted with marine radio communication. Ritchie and Olive had an old army surplus radio at home to do radio watches for the company after hours, and this gradually extended to looking after the communication needs of everyone else. His advice on weather, safe anchorages and other maritime matters was usually taken without question, and his interpretations of the official weather forecast were more keenly awaited than the forecast itself. Anyone who visited the radio room at the Blomfield home couldn't fail to be impressed with the array of awards and commendations on display. Pride of place was taken up by the dual Queen's Service Medals awarded to Ritchie and Olive in 1992 for their services to marine radio communication.

A somewhat unusual award is that of the Northland Sailor of the Year presented to Ritchie in 2001. It's a measure of the regard in which Ritchie was held that even though he hadn't sailed a yacht himself for over 50 years he was presented with this award for his services to yachtsmen.

Russell Radio was not Ritchie's only community service, either. He was a founding member of the Russell Fire Brigade in the 1950s. His daughter, Marjorie, remembers picking gorse prickles out of his bottom after he'd been fighting one of the regular scrub fires that used to plague Russell. After Olive's death in 1995, another daughter, Lynda, became Ritchie's 'Girl Friday' in the radio room and the home. The companionship and care she gave him as his health deteriorated was admired by everyone. Ritchie will be remembered as an iconic figure by the boating community of New Zealand and the South Pacific. He was a loving husband and father and an all-round good bloke. Ritchie Bloomfield's funeral was held at Christ Church, Russell on March 31. A huge crowd of about 300 mourners attended. The playing of a few minutes of a tape recording of Ritchie working the airwaves on Russell Radio struck a particularly poignant note.

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The new mobile oil skimmer barge Taranui is the first of three vessels to be deployed around the New Zealand coast to collect oil or spread dispersant during a spill. She will be leased to the New Zealand Refining Company on a five-plus-five year agreement, and will be based at Marsden Point, near the Northland city of Whangarei, as part of their oil spill response plan. The skimmers have primarily been designed for tier three response - national incidents where the MSA is brought in to handle the incident in conjunction with the regional and local council. This does not preclude their use in tier two incidents. That will be governed by the cost of the cleanup, including the logistics of moving a barge to the cleanup site, and providing trained personnel to operate the barges.

Taranui is the result of 18 months of planning, design and construction by the Maritime Safety Authority following the Jody F Millennium spill in Gisborne in 2002, which highlighted the need for such a vessel. Later that year, during the Tai Ping incident in Bluff, the authority borrowed one from its Australian counterparts. 'Simply put, Taranui will allow the MSA to go to oil spills, rather than wait for the spills to come to us,' says the MSA. At first glance, Taranui looks as though she is strictly a displacement vessel, but her two extra-long shaft Honda four-stroke 90hp outboards aft give the game away. The barge can reach a top speed of about 26 knots in light ship mode, 18 knots cruising, and seven knots when fully laden with 4.5 tonnes of oil in her tanks.

Taranui will stay within harbour limits when on her own, but she will be able to go further offshore, say 5km, if an assisting vessel is close by. She weighs 2.7 tonnes with outboards but no deck equipment, and three tonnes total, and is usually manned by three crew, a ticketed skipper and two hands, one on the pumps and one at the bow to direct the skimmer. 'The policy is to get out there quickly, and come back slowly,' says her skipper, Neil Roweth of the Maritime Safety Authority. Her five 150mm deep runners provide useful grip in turns, and spray is thrown well clear. She is surprisingly manoeuvrable, as the two outboards provide good separation. The barge is 8.2m long by 2.4m wide, right on the upper limit for her customised trailer built by GT Trailers in Pakuranga, Auckland to tow her on the open road.

The skimmer itself, A JBF DIP400, which stands for dynamic inclined plane, comprises two long arms like crab's pincers and a special conveyor belt. The skimmer is stowed neatly on deck until required, when it is manually swung down over the bow where the two inflatable tubes, one each side, ensure the arms are suspended just below the surface. As Taranui moves slowly forward, a special conveyor separates the oil and deposits it in a vertical sump. Because oil is lighter than water, it rises to the top, where it is pumped off into one of three longitudinal oil compartments, each of which holds 1500 litres, separate deck tanks, or straight into a barge moored alongside. Should the oil be particularly viscous, another pump can be deployed. Orange floats are a simple way to show the levels in the oil recovery tanks. There are two manifolds, so either one can fill or empty any tank through the Taranui's own pumps or via shore pumps. Everything is collapsible so she can be transported by road, and she just fits into the cargo hold of a Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules.

Lifting eyes have been welded into the deck so she can be lifted onto a flatbed truck with a crane if trailering is not an option. Taranui is based on a design by an American company, Slickbar, which specialises in oil recovery equipment and has built mobile skimmers around the world. They provided the design and deck equipment for the New Zealand skimmers, but the MSA modified the original single tank with moveable baffles into three separate tanks. 'Their tank arrangement wasn't watertight and could have caused stability problems,' said Neil. She is versatile, so she can be used specifically as a skimmer, or for more general use if required, she can carry booms and other equipment on board, including a portable dispersant unit. The downside is that there are a few more hoses on deck, says Nick.

Bos & Carr Ltd built Taranui in Kumeu at a cost of around $210,000. 'Bos and Carr did a really good job. The standard of workmanship is very high,' says Nick. At the stern of Taranui are four 25 litre tote tanks with two extra jerry cans. 'This enables the tanks to be swapped over and all fuel to be carried on deck, so there is no need for alarms or venting,' says Neil. Her operating range is roughly four hours per pair of tote tanks, but it can vary according to loads and sea conditions. The helmstation is located well aft, with seating for two behind the wheel. There is no head or other crew facilities. 'The boat has been pared down to basics. If we want to go to the toilet, for instance, we can use the mother boat, if there is one,' Or they can carry a small potty loo. Lockers under the seat provide space for lifejackets and other gear, plus three sets of batteries, two for the engines and one house battery. A small towing post is positioned for towing five to 25 tonne inflatable storage tanks behind the vessel. Taranui's basic electronics, supplied by Navstation, comprise a GPS plotter, a sounder and a VHF radio.

Bos & Carr installed the electrics and wiring. She has hydraulic Ultrafleet steering, and a permanent overhead cover to shield the driver and operators from the sun. Her decks are kept as clear as possible. She does not carry a freshwater pump or detergent. The other two skimmers are due to be launched around the end of June. The second will be based in Auckland, and the third in Picton, where she will be on standby for any spills around the South Island, or she can be ferried across Cook Strait to service Wellington if necessary. Should the weather across Cook Strait prevent the ferry from sailing, the Auckland skimmer can be trailered or trucked down.

The three skimmers have been paid for by the Oil Pollution Advisory Committee, or OPAC, whose members include shipping line representatives, regional councils, including harbourmasters, and New Zealand-based oil companies. OPAC ratified the move to buy the skimmers, but the original cost restricted the MSA to only one vessel. 'Some oil operators decided that OPAC was the limit of their contribution to pollution problems, but the New Zealand Refining Company recognised the risk and has gone further.' says Neil. Its lease of the Taranui allowed the others to be built. 'The arrangement demonstrates the foresight of the NZRC to cater for their local environment, while also assuming national responsibility by enabling the lease to go ahead.'

The vessel will always be available for any urgent major oil response recovery work. 'The manufacture of the barges in New Zealand by local companies drastically reduced the cost, compared with buying a complete barge from Slickbar. Slickbar recognised this, and assisted greatly in the subsequent barge build and design of the deck equipment.' he said. Slickbar staff travelled to New Zealand to train 14 people over two months. This core group will then go on to train others.

Taranui doesn't have a dedicated crew, but relies on a pool of about 400 respondents who are on call at various ports around the coast. Regular three-month exercises with the barges will be considered mandatory for all operators, and will also help in regular running of the equipment. Once the three skimmers are fully commissioned, they will go a long way to ensure that any hydrocarbon spills are contained as quickly as possible before they can contaminate New Zealand's largely pristine coast. Professional Skipper magazine compliments the MSA and the NZRC for their initiative and contribution to being prepared for this important risk of pollution.

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