Need for whitebait protection is ‘urgent’

‘‘The whitebait fishery is an unregulated black-market fishing industry which allows for endless fishing of endangered species.’’

Forest & Bird

A conservation advocacy group is calling for a licence requirement, catch limit and extensive data collection, and is warning the whitebait fishery is suffering the ‘‘death by one thousand cuts’’ of neglect.

In a submission to the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) proposed regulations for whitebait, Forest and Bird says there is an ‘‘urgent’’ need to regulate.

‘‘The whitebait fishery is an unregulated black-market fishing industry which allows for endless fishing of endangered species and this in combination with current and future stresses is a recipe for population collapse,’’ the group says. ‘‘It is well known that fish populations are usually unable to independently recover from historical over-fishing due to the long list of other pressures.’’

In January, DOC and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage released a discussion document outlining a series of proposed changes for whitebait fishing. So far it has received more than 2000 submissions. Forest and Bird’s submission finds many of the proposed changes wanting.

The submission notes three whitebait species are endemic to New Zealand ‘‘and if any of these species’ populations were to collapse, these native species would be lost from the wild forever’’.

‘‘There is no single cause to the decline of freshwater fish populations. Unfortunately, it is death by one thousand cuts for our indigenous freshwater fish.’’

There are six species of whitebait fish, of which four are endangered or declining.

Forest and Bird says it questions the ‘‘incomplete offering of management options by DOC’’.

‘‘It is unclear if this oversight can be attributed to a political game of influence by members of Cabinet, a political fear of the vocal minority in election year, or simply incompetence on behalf of DOC at understanding the basics of managing a fishery,’’ the submission says.

In late 2018 and early 2019, DOC surveyed more than 3000 people about the state of the whitebait fishery. Most survey respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, there should be a licence (60 per cent) and a catch limit (77 per cent) for whitebait fishing. ‘‘It is painfully obvious that a licence and catch limit are non-contentious issues among fishers and conservationists,’’ Forest and Bird’s submission says.

DOC has proposed a series of areas classified as whitebait refuges, which will have a moratorium on fishing them of up to 10 years. Some of the proposed refuge areas in South Canterbury include the Orari River, Saltwater Creek and the Waihao River.

Forest and Bird has expressed concern about what it saw as the arbitrary nature of the limits.

‘‘We do not wish to see any number attributed as a maximum limit due to the need to evaluate the dynamic and individual nature of the specific fish species ... and conditions of the river or catchment,’’ it says. The group’s submission says it ‘‘will not rest’’ until there is a catch limit for whitebait fishing.

Submissions on DOC’s proposed changes close on March 16.