How your old fishing gear can change lives

Not many of us go away on holiday to Fiji and discover a way to change other people's lives for the better. But 17 year old Finn Ross saw how locals were struggling with old or broken fishing gear and decided, with his mate Max Lichtenstein, to do something about it.

Catching fish with donated rods in the village Talihau in Va'vau Tonga (Let Them Fish)

Finn Ross of Let Them Fish (RNZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly)

Fishing rods collected by Finn Ross of Let Them Fish (RNZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly)

A collection point at W.S. Laurie and Co fish and tackle shop (RNZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly)

Rods closeup 2 (RNZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly)

Handwritten thank you note from the village of Utulei Tonga (let Them Fish Facebook page)

Rods closeup (RNZ and Claire Eastham-Farrelly)

The makings of the next shipment to the Pacific (Let Them Fish Facebook page)

Finn and Max set up a charity called Let Them Fish that is collecting hundreds of second-hand reels and rods, kilometres of fishing line, and lots of diving stuff here in New Zealand and sending it off to people who need it in Fiji and Tonga.

They currently have collection points at nine fishing shops in Auckland, Tauranga and Whangarei and are rapidly outgrowing their current "storage facilities" (aka their parents' garages!). They have plans to take the idea nationwide.

This Way Up goes along to Finn's parents garage and WS Laurie and Co – a fishing shop in Auckland that is one of the collection points - to see how Let Them Fish works.