Fishing “goldmine” in Waitaki Valley area

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32450, 10 November 1970, Page 10

Fishing “goldmine” in Waitaki Valley area

"The Press" Special Service OAMARU, Nov. 9. The Waitaki Valley Acclimatisation Society was “sitting on a goldmine” with its trout, while in its salmon it had a bonanza, Mr P. J. Burstall, conservator of wildlife with the Department of Internal Affairs, told the society’s council at a recent meeting. Mr Burstall said that the Rotorua-Taupo area provided a certain class of waters for fishing but it could not compete with Waitaki. The desire of Americans was to fish in Taupo, then fish for brown trout in the South Island. He had studied the economic aspect of Roto-

rua-Taupo in 1967, and had estimated that this had returned $148,000. Last year, a similar study had shown that this had increased to $260,000. Mr Burstall said that the South Island provided the type of fishing which could not be obtained anywhere else in the world except in South America. The question was whether similar fisheries’ potential could be retained in the future, once the region became better known. Referring to the proposed development of the Lower Waitaki hydro-electric power potential, Mr Burstall said it would be a disaster if the natural stocking of salmon could not be retained. The alternative was a large hatchery. Mr Burstall said he thought that the society’s policy of stripping salmon and subse-

quently liberating the fry was a step in the right direction. This would give the society information in the future if the Lower Waitaki was developed for hydro-electric power generation. While it was acknowledged that Japanese fishing off the New Zealand coast was taking some salmon, Mr Burstall said it was considered that this did not pose a serious threat. American investigation had shown that the quinnat was more of a coastalwater fish. “One of the biggest mistakes we made in New Zealand was when we threw out hatcheries in the early 19405,” Mr Burstall said. “This put us back 40 years.” Mr Burstall said he considered that hatcheries were probably one of the most important instruments of fisheries management in New Zealand, if properly used.