Does anyone know the definite rules concerning cray snares? I tried to list a couple on Trademe but they fall into their list of things you can't sell on their site. I was under the impression that snares are now legal again.

Dont you mean octopus snare?

as far as I am aware its a real grey area, I know a couple of LDS that still sell them

Before I bought a cray snare I called MAF. The exact words from the operator were "...you can take them on the boat with you, you can even take them underwater with you..but your not suppose to catch crays with them." She then said and I quote "...read into that what you will." She then suggested I check with the skipper of the boat because it's his boat that will get seized. I bought mine in Tairua directly from the skipper so he hasn't got a problem with it. Some people I know made their own, not all that easy to use but the beauty is that if they see MAF coming they can take it apart in a flash.

But more importantly, I've never had the opportunity to use mine ... any chance of a club cray hunt soon ????

Plenty of chances for catching crays on the Labour weekend trip.


Personally I dont really like snares. I much prefer using a cray fork.

I think the snares are great. You can catch a cray without breaking a single legs or feeler, make sure its legal - not soft - or in berry. If it is you can return its hole in perfect condition.

I've seen bruts measuring crays missing almost all their legs are feelers. finding out that they simply a large weta then dropping on the sea floor to find the next one!

Hmmm, I might be interested in an "octopus snare" aqua - miss out the middle man...

As far as I'm aware:

Explicitly set out as illegal -

http://www.fish.govt.nz/en-nz/Recreatio ... ent+Areas/
AucklandKermadec+Islands/Rock+Lobster.htm
(note: url broken into two lines to avoid fubar'ing the post formatting)

General restrictions

It is an offence to:

* Use a spear or any device which could puncture the shell when taking rock lobster, or possess any rock lobster which has been speared.
* Set a rock lobster pot unless the pot and the surface float are permanently and legibly marked with the fisher’s initials and surname.
* Set or possess a rock lobster pot unless it has an escape gap as detailed in the “ESCAPE GAPS FOR ROCK LOBSTER POTS” section.
* It is not permitted to use lasso’s to catch rock lobster.

Looks like they have rewritten the rules then.

my dictionary defines a lasso as:
"rope with a noose for catching cattle and horse"

It would be bloody hard to swing a rope around to catch a cray I would imagine. But a snare is completely different, its a "trap with a noose".

I would say snares are still legal then (if you can trust their website, the written law/regulation might define terms a bit better). They didn't ban nooses.

...they just missed out one word

"rope with a noose for catching cattle and packhorse"

Got a couple of those to go as well.

excuse my ignorance when is Labour weekend and where are we going !!!

http://sods.freeforums.org/cooks-beach-labour-weekend-t501.html

Funny you should say.
I said the exact same thing in my local dive shop the other day while on the topic and looking at all their snares for sale. The shop guy cracked up and said to his mate. "its obvious who hasn't caught many crays then"
Apparently they are more hassle to dive with than they are worth and only learners use them...
Admittedly, I don't have the experience to debate it with him but your quote does make sense to me. I wonder why MAF ban catching cray with 'em?

they banned them because in theory it limits the crays you can catch (leaving behind the crays that are only accessible by snare)

similar to the catching paua freediving rule