On the rivers

Punch-ups and bad behaviour are becoming more common, writes Rachael Kelly, as competition grows for the best fishing spots.

Len Prentice worries about the future of the river he has spent his lifetime fishing. Sitting on the deck of his quintessential Kiwi bach, he surveys the upper Mataura River, watching as a lone angler stalks trout from the riverbank.

He’s been fishing this stretch of Southland’s Nokomai Gorge for more than 60 years, catching his first trout on a worm as his grandfather and father watched on.

‘‘In those days you could camp just about anywhere on the river. I sort of grew up fishing up here and this has been my favourite river of all.’’ But those days are long gone.

‘‘Once you could walk all day without seeing another angler and now if you get five or six hundred metres without seeing another angler you’re very lucky,’’ says Prentice.

Southland’s great fishing rivers like the Mataura, Oreti, Aparima and Waikaia, and the lakes and rivers of Fiordland, are like an El Dorado for overseas visitors.

The often gin-clear waters, the number and size of trout and Southland’s reputation as an untamed wilderness mean fly-anglers come to the province in their droves during the October to April season.

Walk into any pub in northern Southland during the fishing season and you’re likely to hear Europeans, Americans and Australians discussing their day on the river over a quiet beer.

Overseas anglers and guides have been buying up houses in towns like Athol and Lumsden, and more than 34 per cent of non-resident anglers visiting New Zealand fished in Southland, the most popular region in New Zealand.

In 2016 it was reported that some international enthusiasts spent up to $50,000 a week on guides and accommodation while seeking the ultimate angling experience.

It’s thought the industry is worth about $2 million a year to the province, although some in the industry say that’s a conservative estimate.

Guides charge up to $900 for a full guided day, and one offers a guided week package that ranges up to $4000.

But the hype isn’t always living up to the reality.

Angling is supposedly a gentleman’s sport, but it’s not uncommon to hear of punch-ups, bullying and bad behaviour on the riverbanks, and there’s a lot of finger-pointing between locals and organised groups.

Those spoken to were reluctant to divulge details. Fishing provides a huge boost to the local economy and nobody wants to rock the boat.

But a decision to approve a commercial rafting venture on the Mataura River to be run by local businessman Phil Joostens has provoked a wave of upset.

A handful of fisherman, some of whom are guides, formed the NZ Southern Rivers Society and filed papers at the High Court seeking a judicial review of Gore and Southland district councils’ decisions to issue a non-notified resource consent.

They say the rafting venture has the potential to cause ‘‘significant adverse impacts on these rivers and their angling amenity due to the disturbances the rafting activity will cause to fish and their feeding behaviours’’.

Joostens said he spent a year getting resource consent for his operation and, under consultation with Southland Fish & Game, he modified his venture to keep other river users happy. He’ll only operate on the upper Mataura River when it’s flowing too high to fish.

‘‘I don’t want to get offside with the anglers, but we’re not all treated the same by the councils. I’ve had to jump through a lot of hoops to get up and running, yet these guides are making money off the river without even having resource consent.’’

The case has brought to the surface an ongoing debate about whether one group should have use of the rivers over another, who needs resource consent to operate a business from a natural resource, and whether there should be more regulation of the guiding industry.

It’s also raised a bigger question – who is making money out of New Zealand’s natural resources, and how can authorities ensure fairness?

Some Kiwi anglers think guides shouldn’t be putting pressure on fishing resources by charging to show someone where and how to fish.

Apart from needing the same fishing licence as any angler on the river, guiding is an unregulated industry and anyone can set themselves up to ply their trade on the riverbank.

There’s no consensus from local councils on whether commercial guides require resource consent and, if they do, councils say they do not have the regulatory capacity to enforce laws.

Prentice is a pioneer of the guiding industry, a life member of the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association (NZPFGA), and a Fish & Game ranger.

He said when he started more than 30 years ago, you could count the number of guides in Southland on one hand.

‘‘Now as more and more clients have arrived on the scene there’s been more guides that think it’s a great way of life – which it is – and they get up on the bandwagon and market themselves.’’

There’s also a lot of pressure on guides – they work at the whim of the weather, river conditions and accessing water across private land, all while facing pressure from their clients to land a fish.

‘‘Guiding has changed. Some guides can be a bit unethical and will fish the same stretch of water day after day with different clients. That’s putting undue pressure on the river when it’s totally unnecessary.’’

NZPFGA president Serge Bonnafoux said the association has 32 guides in Queenstown and Otago, and 16 in Fiordland and Southland. The criteria to become a member of the association is stringent and members have to sign up to a code of ethics, but Bonnafoux is concerned some New Zealand and foreign anglers are using the term ‘‘hosting’’ to disguise what he calls an ‘‘illegal’’ guiding practice.

‘‘They have no safety plan, no liability insurance, no first aid certification and many of them are operating illegally on the Department of Conservation estate. They’re not paying any tax or submitting GST returns either.’’

WorkSafe said it was wrong to suggest the freshwater fishing guide industry was unregulated.

A spokesperson said guides were bound by the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Risk analysis and controls were required, and the guide was lawfully obligated to keep their clients safe.

‘‘Depending on the circumstances of a particular guided fishing trip, the Adventure

‘‘Guiding has changed. Some guides can be a bit unethical and will fish the same stretch of water day after day with different clients. That’s putting undue pressure on the river when it’s totally unnecessary.’’ Len Prentice