Salmon in the Waitaki River will come under close scrutiny this fishing season in a research project aimed at finding ways to enhance the fishery.
The number of salmon being caught in the river has fallen in recent years, even though catches improved last season.
The research is aimed at identifying ways to improve the fishery and prioritise projects.
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) will carry out the research for the Central South Island Fish and Game Council with Meridian Energy Ltd expected to provide funding of up to $60,000.
Fish and game officer Mark Webb said the project replaced the salmon smolt release programme which Meridian funded under an agreement reached in 1990.
Unavailability of Waitaki salmon stock and the absence of a hatchery to raise them led to the programme being abandoned.
Instead, the fish and game council has been negotiating with Meridian to fund this season's research programme, then assist with the resulting enhancement work.
Mr Webb said that while the agreement with Meridian still had to be signed, the research project would start next month and continue through the fishing season.
It would conclude next May with the annual spawning count, then Niwa would prepare a report which would outline options and prioritise enhancement projects.
Mr Webb believed the research project offered more benefit to the Waitaki salmon fishery than an approach which relied solely on releasing hatchery juveniles.
The project did not exclude releases, but would provide a range of other options, prioritise them and provide costs.
The report would consider:
• Priorities for protecting and enhancing existing salmon spawning habitat in tributaries, along with potential production;
• Sites, priorities, and potential production from enhancing main-stream and braids spawning habitat;
• Options for a hatchery, including potential sites, release sites and strategies;
• Options for enhancing juvenile salmon rearing habitat; and
• Methods to monitoring enhancement options.
After the report is prepared, the council will discuss with Meridian the priorities for projects and funding.
