Whitebaiting season shortened
FISHING: A shorter season and new rules have been introduced to prevent overfishing
TFour of the six species of whitebait are classified as threatened or at risk of extinction ... — Nick Moody, Department of Conservation
he Department of Conservation is urging whitebaiters to only catch what they need, ahead of the shortened season. The season, which opened at the start of this month, ends on October 30, making it six weeks shorter than previous seasons for most areas.
The Chatham Islands are an exception to the new regulations and will retain their whitebaiting season of December 1 until the last day of February.
DoC whitebait fishery manager Nick Moody said the shorter season was to prevent overfishing.
“Four of the six species of whitebait are classified as threatened or at risk of extinction and of course, nobody wants to them go extinct,” he said.
“We’ve made these changes to ensure that our grandchildren can still go whitebaiting and enjoy this great tradition.”
In 2021, DoC introduced new whitebaiting rules, including changes to fishing gear and spacing along the river.
Moody said it was important whitebaiters were aware of the changes, and fishery rangers would be keeping an eye on fishing activity.
“I would advise folk to pop over to the DoC website and just type in ‘whitebait’, there’s a really good diagram there explaining the rules, which came in last season, about how far apart fishers need to be and what kind of nets and screens they can use.
“So they’re now consistent around most of the country, so if fishers can go there and check they’re up with the play and we can all have an enjoyable season and ensure that we are reducing our harvest and also having a good time out fishing.
“We’re also keen to hear from whitebaiters. This season, we’ll carry out a survey asking whitebaiters for feedback on the implementation of the regulation and the quality of their fishing experience.”
But Peter Langlands, a keen whitebaiter who runs the
Whitebaiting New Zealand Facebook page, fears the shortened season will result in more intensive fishing.
“I personally don’t really know if it’s going to be the solution,” Langlands siad.
“People, especially the commercial whitebaiters, they’ll just whitebait a lot more intensively when they are whitebaiting, so they can compensate for that. The commercial people who are serious, they’ll just put a lot more time in and they’ll really optimise and maximise the gear they’re using for their catch.”