Scientist: Put brake on whitebait take
A scientist believes whitebaiting should be a recreational fishery and a handbrake be put on the commercial take in the future.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) has put together a discussion document that proposes changes to whitebaiting in New Zealand.
It includes shortening the season, prohibiting whitebaiting from some rivers for a set period of time, and phasing out equipment including sock nets, trap nets and screens.
DOC has suggested whitebait is on the decline.
The discussion has been hijacked in recent weeks fol- lowing outrage from some quarters over comments made by Southland Fish & Game councillor Ken Cochrane, who spoke of frustrations in dealing with ‘‘chick scientists’’ when he was part of a whitebait working party.
Professor Gerry Closs, the head of the University of Otago’s zoology science department, joined the chorus of people condemning Cochrane’s comments.
However, he acknowledged it had distracted from the main issue, which was the future sustainability of whitebait numbers.
He largely supported DOC’s discussion document but felt it needed to go further regarding the commercial sale of whitebait.
‘‘It should be more like the brown trout fishery. I think whitebait fishing is good – I think people should be encouraged to go whitebait fishing. I’m not so convinced that you should be able to sell it commercially.’’
Rules were brought in some time ago that allowed for the commercial sale of whitebait. But that was before widespread refrigeration and fast air transport to Auckland, Closs said.
‘‘In the old days maybe you would catch 5 kilograms of whitebait and you would give 2kg to your neighbours – that’s fine,’’ he said.
Today’s ability to ship 100kg of whitebait to markets such as Auckland meant ‘‘the incentive to keep catching is very strong’’. Commercial fishing was a topic raised by Cochrane when he spoke to members of the Southland Recreational Whitebaiters Association, though it was overshadowed by his ‘‘chick scientists’’ comments.
At the meeting, Cochrane said a big component of the working party discussion centred on the commercial take. ‘‘I personally advocated for a quota management system ... We ended up with a formula of a way to go forward and manage the commercial take. That option was put to [Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage] . . . but that was completely and entirely rejected.’’
On top of introducing heavy restrictions on commercial whitebaiting, Closs backed DOC’s suggestion prohibiting fishing from some rivers for a period of time.
Closs said whitebait was a resilient fishery and he did not believe it was a crisis situation. However, he said there was little data available on the catch rate and how many whitebait were coming into rivers.
Sage encouraged everyone to have a say on the discussion document through the submission process, which closes on March 16.