Fishing guides back regulation moves

Professional fishing guides are more than happy to hear the Otago Fish and Game Council is strongly supporting the proposal to advance the introduction of a licence for commercial game-bird hunters and anglers.

A law allowing for guiding licences was passed in 1996, but no licence system emerged because of disagreements about regulations and fees, Fish and Game Otago chief executive Niall Watson said.

Those disagreements had now been resolved, and that created an opportunity to get the licence established, he said.

The New Zealand Fish and Game Council had sent a draft proposal written in conjunction with the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides' Association to all the regional fish and game councils for their input.

The draft suggested five options ranging from doing nothing to a targeted guide licence with restrictions and entry criteria. such as limiting it to New Zealand citizens only or requiring them to become accredited.

Mr Watson said a guide's licence was particularly important for Otago because of the significance of nature-based tourism within the region, the need to know who was guiding, to be able to communicate with guides and to be able to assess clients' success and satisfaction.

"The implementation of a guide's licence is long overdue."

At its recent meeting, the Otago council recorded that it "strongly supported" the proposal and would put in a submission to the national council, he said.

Fishing guides' association executive member Harvey Maguire, of Queenstown, said the association initiated the idea more than 10 years ago and all those involved in the industry had been wrestling with it ever since.

The association, which supported the idea of being regulated, would be very happy if the licence system "finally got off the ground", he said.

As the industry had little regulation, concerns were that no protection was afforded to clients or to conservation values, Mr Maguire said.

The number of guides in New Zealand was unclear but could be more than 400. The fishing guides' association had 200 members.

The New Zealand Fish and Game Council proposed to issue a revised draft for wider consultation later this year.