It's taken a decade, but the Government has finally announced a plan to reverse the decline of the Hauraki Gulf.
New Zealand's most popular recreational fishing region is in heartbreakingly poor condition with numbers down in iconic species like crayfish, scallops and paua, while there have been recent reports of snapper suffering from starvation.
The Hauraki Gulf and Tikapa Moana Marine Protection Bill will extend the marine reserves at Cape Rodney (Goat Island) and Whanganui a Hei (Cathedral Cove).
It will create 12 new "high protection areas" - essentially marine reserves where tangata whenua will be the only people allowed to fish.
These include the popular Mokes or Mokohinau Islands, the Noises near Waiheke and areas around the Aldermen Islands, off the Coromandel.
There will also be five new sea-floor protection areas where activities like trawling are banned - including around Kawau Island and the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula.
But there's no need to worry, you can still anchor your boat and fish as long as you don't disturb the sea floor.
The only catch? This could be the one that got away.
Parliament wraps up in three weeks and these law changes will take longer than that.
What was once a Kiwi birthright is now a very rare find, with crayfish functionally extinct in the Hauraki Gulf.
"All New Zealanders recognise the Hauraki Gulf as a national jewel treasured for its beauty and biodiversity," Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said.
Perhaps what Kiwis associate more with the Gulf now is the damage it's suffered from overfishing and sediment runoff.
Scallops, mussels and paua are in decline and 22 percent of seabirds are threatened, however, the Government has a plan to turn it around.
"I'm pleased to announce that through new legislation, we'll almost triple the area of the gulf that is under protection from just over six percent to around 18 percent," Hipkins said.
That protection isn't absolute.
There will be high protection areas where fishing generally will be regulated, what that means is not yet clear, but tangata whenua will be able to fish there.
While in seafloor protection areas, banned activities include mining, aquaculture, bottom trawling, Danish seining or dropping a large net to trap fish.
And some areas show what's protected completely in marine reserves, including Wednesday's extensions.
Ocean advocates are in disbelief that bottom trawling won't be banned everywhere in the Hauraki Gulf.
"We know that that is completely inappropriate with the state of the Gulf, and there's no place for it in the future of efforts to restore Tikapa Moana," Forest & Bird Hauraki Gulf coordinator, Bianca Ranson said.
"I'd like to see bottom impact trawling banned from the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park," Mike Plant from the NZ Sport Fishing Council said.
"I don't think that's necessary. We fish a relatively small part of the Hauraki Gulf but it's really important stretch of water for the fishing industry," Seafood NZ chief executive Jeremy Helson responded.
The fishing industry says other stresses like invasive seaweed and sedimentation need to be considered in the plan.
"We need to strike a balance between protecting the sea and utilising its resources," Helson said.
The Prime Minister hopes to introduce the changes to the House before it rises for the election campaign in three weeks, however, the process to enshrine those changes in law will take longer, leaving it in the hands of whoever's in Government next year.
National is tentatively supportive.
"I've worked to make sure we continue to protect the Hauraki Gulf which is an important asset for the people of Auckland and also for New Zealand, all I'm saying to you is we need to get into the detail. I haven't seen the detail," National Leader Christopher Luxon said.
And that won't be too difficult, because, after 10 years of working out the detail of this grand plan to save the Gulf, it's still fairly thin on detail.
