An analysis of the Pier fishing banPrepared by several Christchurch families

Intro

• The pier is a privilege.• The council are letting a few people wreck

this privilege for others.• The pier issues need to be revisited by the

new board ASAP, there must be a better solution!

The ban is insane• Piers are for fishing!

• Why pay a guard to stop people fishing when you can pay a ranger to enforce rules?

• The pier should be for everyone, at any time.

The ban is not fair or balanced

• Fishing is a very popular activity. The council should put some effort into supporting it.

• People are banned from fishing during the weekend at the only time of the year that the fishing in Christchurch is any good.

• The rest of the public are no better behaved than people fishing, in some ways they are far worse.

Sometimes the cleaners don’t turn up.. In this case the pier looked like a dog toilet

The cleaners somehow missed this condom (or didn’t turn up)

Effects of the ban on families• The pier is safe, provides fishing that is suitable for

all age groups and skill levels, and caters for people with mobility problems.

• Christchurch families put a lot of effort and money towards building the pier, now many can’t use it.

• If the council feel that the pier is important for families, why have they banned us from fishing at the one time we would want to do this?

Paul Saunders fishing from his wheelchair with friends, at the pier

Other effects of the ban• People who can’t afford boats now have to travel long

distances to get to the next best fishing spots.• The pier is less interesting.• People are now forced to fish in places where their lives are

at risk.

What should be done?• The rules need to be examined – e.g. there should be a

limit of one rod per person.• All rules need to be signposted in at least English, Chinese,

Korean, and Japanese.• The council rangers need to get tough on offenders, and

issue trespass notices, especially to a certain group that has caused many of the problems.

• Anyone threatening a ranger needs to be dealt with by the police.

• An additional structure for fishing should solve most of the problems, but the council may be reluctant to fund this.

How we can help

• Act as ‘honorary pier wardens’• We already try to educate people, but have no

power to enforce rules.• We can tidy up messes that inconsiderate

people have left behind.• Report vandalism so it is dealt with quicker

than it is now.

END OF PRESENTATION