NEW WHITEBAIT SEASON

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25240, 19 July 1947, Page 6

NEW WHITEBAIT SEASON

PROSPECT OF EARLY RUN Although the whitebait season will not open until August 1, small shoals of young whiteoait have been showing up in all the Canterbury streams during the last six weeks, while sea fishermen have reported that most of the fish in recent catches have had whitebait in the gut contents. If the river temperatures are satisfactory next month there is likely to be an early run of whitebait in Canterbury. This year whitebait fishing will be governed by new regulations which were gazetted last month. The regulations have been issued to consolidate and simplify previous regulations, and contain only a few new provisions. Fishermen can now use any kind of net, and the shape, make, and material are not fixed. The net, however, must conform to the official measurement, which varies in different parts of New Zealand. * For the Taranaki and Waikuku creeks the net must be three square feet in area, and for the Ashley river it must have a circumference of 13ft. For the Waimakariri, Styx, and Avon rivers nets must be 13ft in circumference if the width of the mouth is at least twice the height. Otherwise the circumference must be lift. Each fisherman is allowed only one net, and he must remain by it. No fishing is permitted now in any artificial and tributary drain, stream, or watercourse or within one chain of its confluence with the drain, stream, or watercourse, whether natural or artificial, into which it flows. Fishing is not permitted also within one chain of any weir, flood-gate, tidegate, bridge-pier, or artificial groyne.