At the AGM of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club in September 1997 members voted to request a voluntary contribution on top of subscriptions to help establish FADs in the vicinity of the Poor Knights. Fisheries regulations have been used to create a buffer zone around the Poor Knights Marine Reserve by prohibiting commercial fishing within 1 nml and trawling and purse seining within 3 nmls of the Islands. A recreational only fishing zone already exists between 800 metres and 1600 metres out from the Poor Knights Islands but the water is deep and there are few natural structures to attract fish. Design The South Pacific Commission has developed a type of FAD that is currently in use in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is well suited to deep water sites and is relatively simple to deploy but has not yet been tried in New Zealand, although a Northland company does assemble and export them.
Flotation is provided by a string of small floats threaded through a plastic coated steel cable.
Three buoys at the top of the cable support a mast which will be fitted with a flag and flashing light. This system has the flexibility to ride over swells without straining the mooring system. FADs provide a substrate for marine growth which in turn provides shelter and food for juvenile or small fish. Larger fish are attracted to FADs for a number of reasons including improved hunting success. Reef fish are not attracted to FADs while surface schooling pelagic fish are.