Call to regulate whitebait catch

The New Zealand Conservation Authority has asked the Department of Conservation to consider controlling the whitebait catch amid widespread concerns over the future of the native species.

Fishing permits or catch limits are two ideas it wants  explored, as well as an outright ban of some fishing techniques.

Minutes of the conservation authority’s latest meeting reveal it has received requests from several conservation boards and other stakeholders for a "more concerted and focused programme of action".

Members were keen to have a cost-effective monitoring system for the harvesting of whitebait.

Ideas explored include shortening the season, setting catch limits, removing traps from nets, and even an online permit system, which would have strong conditions such as catch data by weight to be provided.

Retailers could be encouraged to use only sustainably caught or farmed whitebait.

Ministry of Primary Industry fisheries officers could even be brought in to support compliance.

The authority decided to write to the Minister of Conservation advising of its questions about the sustainability of the catch due to loss of habitat and possible "over-harvesting".

"There is increasing anecdotal evidence of indiscriminate and large catches of whitebait for commercial gain. Four of the five whitebait species are classified as threatened," the minutes note.

It acknowledged that a regulatory review would be "challenging".

The authority wants Doc science staff to design a statistically robust, cost-effective monitoring programme for whitebait which provides better data on fish populations and trends.

It also wants a research plan to develop evidence-based policy that would support a sustainable whitebait fishery.

A third request is to investigate the possibility of banning the use of techniques such as the Southland sock net, "which are indiscriminate in terms of their catch, prevent fish passage, and allow whitebait harvesting at sites not historically fished".

West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Des McEnaney said it had also been pushing for a review of the regulations. 

- By Laura Mills