Dive Right In with Gwyn Brown from Tauranga Dive

Right, here's an idea – now it's not mine, so I am not looking for any back slapping, but I think it has merit.

Let's remove the current size limits on fish, crayfish, paua, scallops, and most of the other species while we are at it, and instead introduce both an upper and lower size limit.

It's the mature adults of any species that produce the young, so leave them alone to do their thing. We are better taking smaller fish that are not producing than taking the adults that are.

And when I say smaller fish, I mean pannies. For example, make the snapper size limits 30cm to 50cm. A 50cm snapper is a bloody good size fish in anyone's book and the 30cm at the lower end is also eatable. Most of us have been conditioned to throw anything smaller than this back anyway.

There is now an understanding amongst most fishers, thanks in no small way to the Grahames, the Geoffs, the Matt Watsons, and also the Big Angry Fish boys who are all catch and release proponents, that it's madness to target and keep big snapper. Surely that makes sense?

Why do you need a trophy fish anyway – just take a photo. Selfie yourself on Instagram or Facebook. Why do you need to beat your chest and brag to the boys around the barbecue that the biggest fish you ever caught was a 25kg snapper?

'Yeah that's right, I'm the big man.” Well, no you're not. You just removed a massive breeding fish only so you could do what? Brag about it? Idiot.

And it's no different to shooting trophy big game animals when you think about it. I know snapper isn't an endangered species, fair enough, but the principle is the same. If you aren't going to eat it, don't kill it.

Same goes for the huge crays. Leave them alone, just smile, wave, take a picture if you really want bragging rights. Take the mid-sized males that would be the best for both the species and our eating gastronomy.

Do farmers send off their biggest cows to the works? Are the massive prize breeding bulls the ones that we are eating at the butchers? The majority of beef we consume is male and there's a reason for that! So let's apply the same reasoning to our recreational fishing habits.

I'm just sitting here in the dive shop, thinking what the reefs around the Bay would be like if all the large breeding critters were left alone. If it works on the above water farms, it will work on the underwater ones too.

Fish for thought… Wait, bad idea, I could be sending myself off to the abattoir.