Looking for a simple life Martin Hansen & the Conquest

摘要

Fishing the Cook Strait is not an easy life, yet it's one that Martin Hansen relishes. And, as he tells Derek Johnson, he'd rather spend more time fishing than filling out paperwork. Filling your boat with fish, bringing it to wharf, and selling the catch to an appreciative clientele must be a satisfying way to earn a living. But add the bureaucracy associated with our Quota Management System, and the shine almost goes from the halo. Martin Hansen, a native of Lower Hutt suburb Eastbourne, is such afisherman. He knows that something needs to be done to manage our fish stocks, but he's not sure that the current system is it - not least because the bureaucracy seems to become ever more complex, and ever more costly to the fisher. Martin has been fishing the Cook Strait for the best part of 21 years, and grew up fishing with mates: "After school and at weekends, we'd all go fishing. The big adventure was to row a 10-foot dinghy into the harbour and catch kahawai all day."