Recognition for 50 years' unbroken service to New Zealand fisheries and the fishing industry came as a big surprise for Spring Creek fishing legend Ted Collins. Especially when Kaikoura MP Colin King and Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley paid 74-year-old Ted a visit at Wairau Hospital to present the award.
Ted had been permitted to leave hospital to attend an international rock lobster conference at the Marlborough Convention Centre in August and had just arrived back when he heard footsteps coming down the corridor towards his room. A group of about six officials gathered around his bedside before speeches were made and the plaque was presented.
"It came as a shock, but I was very humbled," Ted says. Ted, who has been chairman for Cramac 5, a Marlborough/Canterbury commercial rock lobster stakeholder group, since its inception in 1987, says he has always loved the sea.
His first fishing memory was as a 6-year-old fishing off the wharf at Picton with a penny's worth of bait from the shop. From there, he went on to receive his first fishing licence in 1958, and has held various positions in the industry, including national president of the Federation of Commercial Fishermen, of which he is also a life member.
Ted recalls the first annual meeting of the Picton Fishermen's Association, at which the secretary, chairman and vice-chairman had arrived straight from the pub. A somewhat untraditional appointment as president was confirmed after the chairman pointed at him, one of nine people at the meeting, he says.
Three generations of the Collins family have now worked in the fishing industry, with grandson Kurt being a fisherman for Arapawa Island resident Joe Hebberley.
Ted believes his involvement in the implementation of the New Zealand quota management system is his biggest achievement. The industry realised it was in deep trouble in the mid-1970s when fish catch fell 50 to 60 per cent, and the size of the fish being taken diminished.
Fishermen were working longer hours and there were several cases of boating accidents caused by fishermen falling asleep at the helm, says Ted. Something had to be done. Federation of Commercial Fishermen executive member Peter Stevens suggested the quota scheme, receiving unanimous support from fellow members.
Although it was Prime Minister Robert Muldoon's Think Big era of expansion, the federation strongly lobbied the government, finally achieving success in 1986, when the quota system was implemented.
Cramac 5 executive officer Larnce Wichman says Ted is a stalwart of the industry, having devoted much time and energy to its advancement. His involvement with lifting rock lobster numbers back to a sustainable level had been amazing and of great benefit to Cramac 5.