Major whitebaiting changes mooted in effort to protect future fish stocks

Tuesday, 14 January 2020

An early-morning whitebaiting session may be curtailed under new proposals aimed at looking after future stocks.

A proposal to ban whitebaiting on some rivers for up to 10 years has been labelled 'disgraceful' by a West Coast mayor.

Proposals for managing the decline of whitebait in New Zealand were released for public consultation by the Department of Conservation (DOC) on Tuesday.

A handful of whitebait caught on the lower Oreti River in Southland.

The proposals include banning exports, restricting the equipment used, limiting upstream fishing, reducing the length of the season and closing some rivers for up to 10 years. DOC recommends the season be shortened two weeks, to between August 15 to November 15.

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said most of the proposals made 'perfect sense', but the proposal to close large West Coast rivers was disgraceful.

Whitebait fritters are a Kiwi delicacy, but are at risk due to overfishing.

Whitebaiters had a bumper week at Smithfield as the season came to a close.

* Whitebait numbers decline 'rubbish'

* MP's feast on whitebait at hearings of native fish bill

* Whitebaiting days could be numbered under proposed new law**

'If you look at the areas proposed for closure … the West Coast has a greater area than all of the other areas combined,' he said.

DOC has been reviewing the whitebait fishery since 2018 because it says four of the six whitebait species are classified as 'at risk' or 'threatened'.

Smith said he was concerned Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage had sole discretion on whether to close certain rivers to whitebaiting for 10 years and beyond.

It was 'an attack on the West Coast', he said.

'[Sage] is judge and jury. No-one in their right mind would be comfortable with that.'

The proposals are aimed at creating a nationally consistent approach. The West Coast season, at nine weeks, is already shorter than elsewhere, and the region has restrictions on upstream fishing.

West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Cheryl Riley said she was pleased the rest of the country would be brought into line with the restrictions already in place on the West Coast. Sixty-one rivers on the West Coast are already closed to whitebaiting even during the whitebait season, which runs from September 1 to November 14.

She agreed with many of the proposals and believed others were 'fair', including restricting fishing upstream and restricting the length of stands and types of nets used.

Riley said while the map of the West Coast showing vast stretches of proposed river closures was alarming, she hoped Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage would take submissions and scientific data on board before closing more rivers.

She was surprised the proposals did not include a licensing system or catch limits.

'I think it's positive. We met with [Sage] and we asked her not to make any moves until after the whitebait season and I'm pleased she respected that.'

Proposed changes include phasing out sock nets, traps in nets and screens. Fishing would be prohibited from structures other than stands, and only one net could be used per stand.

The document rules out catch limits, saying they would be unenforceable given the large numbers of locations fishing can take place.

It is also proposed that some rivers become whitebait refuges where whitebait fishing is excluded for a set time.

Three options are proposed including fishing could be permitted for two years and then banned for two years in a repeating cycle, fishing could be banned for between five and 10 years then reviewed and for fishing to be banned for at least 10 years.

It released a map of proposed 'refuges' including the Haast, Punakaiki and Mohikinui rivers on the West Coast.

Forest & Bird freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen said the plans did not go far enough. The organisation was keen to see catch limits included.

'There is no requirement on fishers to provide data so we still are left in the dark about where it is being caught and how much. Changing the length of the season will make a difference but that won't sustain the species long-term,' she said.

According to Statistics NZ, New Zealand exported 1092kg of whitebait worth $92,286 in 2018, mainly to Australia.

Northland whitebait farmer Peter Dekker said he agreed with the ban of wild whitebait exports, but said it would make no sense to include farmed whitebait.

Allowing more fishing of brown trout would help the whitebait population more than closing rivers, he said. Some of the proposals would drive the price of whitebait up and therefore encourage more fishers.

Public discussion sessions will be held around New Zealand in January and February. Submissions close on March 2.

* Comments on this article are closed.