Thread: Whitebait debate

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/...-ban-sock-nets

There are some grumpy folk around over this, my brother in law on the Coast said this is the last straw for Labour, he’s voted labour his whole life but between this and the ban on mining, etc the coasters have had enough! Was telling me about a certain f&b member who runs a eco lodge and how the river he is on is for the chop for whitebaiting as he doesn’t like seeing them, dirty deeds being done.

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

There are some grumpy folk around over this, my brother in law on the Coast said this is the last straw for Labour, he’s voted labour his whole life but between this and the ban on mining, etc the coasters have had enough! Was telling me about a certain f&b member who runs a eco lodge and how the river he is on is for the chop for whitebaiting as he doesn’t like seeing them, dirty deeds being done.

And the coast is where the party started.

I always thought the whitebait debate was , one egg or two,when making patties???

I dont chase bait myself but its a little like shooting ducks rules wise

once upon a time you could shoot ducks on the water but werent allowed cartridge longer than 2 3/4"
then water swatting was out and longer cartridges were in...more "sporting"
then steel shot came in and the bigger cartridges became normal.....loads of folk myself included have gone back to 2 3/4"
at the end of the day a bag limit is that...a limit on size of bag....who really gives a shit what the feathered little huas are doing when they meet thier demise???really what difference does it make???
same with your sock nets....if a quota is brought in,say 5kgs per person per day HOW that is caught is irrelevant as long as the existing rules to give others a whack further upstream are kept in play.
if you scoop 5kgs in first 10 minutes of the day...thats it you go home...and if you arent in your possie by 8am someone else can use it FOR THAT DAY...same as a maimai.

the not being able to sell it commercially is a thorny one BUT should do more than all other rules combined to reduce overall catch......which is the stated long term goal.asumably you could still give some to your mates for a donation as long as its come out of your say 5kgs per day...but couldnt sell it to fish n chippie to onsell.

thats what banning market gunning did for waterfowl ,using a punt gun to get your current bag limit(and no more) in some regieons would be problamatic but a heck of a lot of fun.

Seems to me the goal is to stop rec white baiting other wise banning the sale would be the quickest way to lower the take.
This is from an outsider looking in with no personal axe to grind

It is habitat destruction that is the important issue. Reducing the take won't make a difference if the habitat is not there for growth to maturity and spawning. On the West Coast a big issue has been an insecticide spray used on landcorp (and other) farms for grass grub which runs off into streams. It is a modern replacement for DDT.
On the SI East Coast many natal streams are devoid of tucker and we never see adult inanga anymore. Polluted with nitrates - black algae on the stream stones

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

It is habitat destruction that is the important issue. Reducing the take won't make a difference if the habitat is not there for growth to maturity and spawning. On the West Coast a big issue has been an insecticide spray used on landcorp (and other) farms for grass grub which runs off into streams. It is a modern replacement for DDT.
On the SI East Coast many natal streams are devoid of tucker and we never see adult inanga anymore. Polluted with nitrates - black algae on the stream stones

This.

There are huge amounts that get past the nets, particularly once the season has finished. They are just having trouble with breeding territory.

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

So stopping fishing wont make any difference?

Fishing is not helping the species that are endangered. If the natal streams where the endangered species do survive are identified then those streams should be closed to fishing. Each specie will occupy a different habitat.

I still hate picking out the eyes! Are there still a lot of “Elve?” Baby eels caught while white baiting? We used to eat them as well, but there were heaps in throwers in the Wairarapa

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Has anyone come up with actual figures on what percent of total migration get caught in each river over the season?
Seems a bit hit and miss if they want restrict the catch if they aren't sure what percent make it passed the nets.

I am not sure you can ever get realistic data out of people.

Look how hard it is to get people to use the tahr app.

Originally Posted by berg243

with all the flood mitigation and stop banks with drains going through with stop flaps a lot of breeding area is now inaccessible to the white bait . also a lot of trees and scrub are cleared off the river banks and some of the small streams the council go through every so often and clear all the weed out as well . start prosecuting those that fish more than a 3rd of the width and those that fish together to virtually cover the whole width by staggering their nets and have a quota for commercial fishing only to be sold through a licensed fish receiver this will only slow the decline in numbers unless habitat is restored . stopping fishing on some rivers will increase pressure on the others remaining open maybe better to have a shorter season and maybe a total allowable catch per fishing household that has a fishing permit with non fishing households also having a stored limit of whitebait to stop stockpiling of it.

Yeah man, it's a virtually unregulated commercial fishery, it needs to be managed.

Habititat will be a primary driver but that is a much harder problem to deal with, easing the load on the mortality rates through fishery management to allow time to make the harder and more expensive changes to restore habitat is a reasonable response.

Tbh I though doc was going to go harsher than they did.

Our entire fishery management systems need a huge overhaul, look at so many of the stocks that sit pretty much in a constant and steady decline. Our baselines need to be raised so we have more breading stock in the ocean to support the ever increasing pressure on the stocks.

Originally Posted by muzza

Ive heard a whisper about "whitebait farms" happening in the Buller region. Dont know any more than that. Anyone else heard the whisper?

They have been trying to make it commercially viable for ages, not a bad thing if they can

Originally Posted by muzza

Ive heard a whisper about "whitebait farms" happening in the Buller region. Dont know any more than that. Anyone else heard the whisper?

Good point , perhaps that is why they haven’t mentioned banning the sale as they want to farm them , great idea .

IMO the fishery needs to be managed. DOC who manage it at the moment dont have the resources or the manpower to do it. Maybe fish and game would be better. The commercial sale of whitebait needs to be stopped and the breeding habitat also needs to be protected. Poor old Joe blogs that only goes down to get a feed for the family dose not need to be penalized.

Originally Posted by Gutty

IMO the fishery needs to be managed. DOC who manage it at the moment dont have the resources or the manpower to do it. Maybe fish and game would be better. The commercial sale of whitebait needs to be stopped and the breeding habitat also needs to be protected. Poor old Joe blogs that only goes down to get a feed for the family dose not need to be penalized.

I've never been whitebaiting and doubt I ever will, but that is a good post. Who could disagree?