Boating New Zealand — February 2018

72 Boating New Zealand

W

arm summers usually mean elevated sea

surface temperatures, especially inshore

and inside harbours and estuaries.

That’s certainly the case as I write, with

sea temperatures a couple of degrees or

more above average for this time of year.

People were already swimming in Dunedin in December,

reporting February water temperatures on local beaches, and

kingfish were being taken up and down both coasts of the South

Island, including Fiordland.

A little further offshore, water temperatures are influenced

more by oceanic currents than by air temperature. If the warm

subtropical East Australian Current is weaker than usual,

the water will be a few degrees below average; if the current’s

strong, the water will be warmer and it will push further south,

bringing many pelagic fishes in its wake.

I love years when sea temperatures are warm, since they

usually bring good numbers of game fish like marlin and tuna

to our shores. The 2017-18 summer looks like being a warm

water year and the game fishing should be good – December

saw many marlin and tuna taken with the peak months still to

come. Indeed, yellowfin tuna had turned up in late November,

so fingers crossed for a bumper game season.

Warmer than average water impacts on the inshore fishery

too. It influences the distribution and behaviour of common

fish: northern species that prefer warm water move south while

those that do better in cool water move away or go deep. In

warm summers snapper can be quite common off the South

Island’s West Coast and are taken as far south as Lyttelton on

the east coast.

In my part of New Zealand, the last

months of 2017 were warm, the warmest

in years – maybe the warmest on record.

As I write high summer and more hot

weather is just around the corner.

with JOHN EICHELSHEIM

THECATCH

Some like

it hot

BELOW If our seas

keep on warming

will certainly see

more warm water

pelagic species

such as wahoo.