Whitebaiters up against ‘bunch of chick scientists’
A Fish and Game councillor believes court action should be investigated if proposals – influenced by ‘‘chick scientists’’ who think whitebaiters should hold hands and sing Kumbaya – are in fact passed.
Proposals in a Department of Conservation discussion document include shortening the whitebait season, prohibiting fishing from some rivers for a set period of time, and phasing out fishing equipment including sock nets, trap nets and screens.
The Southland Recreational Whitebaiters Association held a meeting in Invercargill yesterday to outline the submission it planned to put forward.
Southland Fish and Game councillor Ken Cochrane, who is also a keen whitebaiter, shared his thoughts on the document and the approach the whitebaiters should take.
The discussion document, Improving Whitebait Management, has suggested the species is in decline.
Adult populations of four of the six species of fish that make up whitebait fishery are threatened or at risk of extinction, the document says.
Cochrane does not feel the department has ever shown whitebaiters a lot of love and believed that shone through during his time on a whitebait working party.
‘‘There was a process . . . when I sat there one day and I thought; ‘what I’m listening to is a whole bunch of chick scientists’ – and if you really looked at the view that they were pitching – [it] was everybody in New Zealand should not shave their armpits, they should wear dreadlocks, and when they go whitebaiting they should do it in jandals only. And after they catch one patty for tea they should sit down, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. That was the feeling I got.’’
Cochrane was unsure how much weight the submission process would hold, but added that it would not be the end of the road. A judicial review through the High Court was another option.
‘‘The process is not over, it does not make us feel any better that we’ve been victimised, ripped off, and not listened to, but I want you to take heart that it isn’t over. There are further opportunities.’’
Cochrane urged members of the Southland Recreational Whitebaiters Association to make a submission that was based on licences to fish for whitebait and which also asked for a regional rules concept to be implemented.
Those were the two biggest components that would allow an opportunity for a judicial review, Cochrane said.
He believed the cost of a judicial review would be about $150,000, but he added that if the cost was spread across 7000 whitebaiters in New Zealand it could be manageable.
Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced yesterday that the deadline for submissions has been extended to March 16.