Salmon management problems and anglers’ privileges

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32957, 1 July 1972, Page 12

Salmon management problems and anglers’ privileges

(By

C. J. HARDY)

Quinnat salmon are not the exclusive property of the sports anglers and members of the New Zealand Salmon Anglers’ Association. They are a natural resource belonging to the people of New Zealand as a whole.

Terry McGoverne’s article on salmon fishing, printed last Saturday, put forward one point of view: another may place the matter in a different perspective. Salmon were established by the Marine Department in a 40-year effort, with the taxpayer’s money, to provide the raw material for a canning industry to add to our wealth. That the size of the runs which developed never seemed large enough for their intended purpose is, perhaps, a matter of regret, for we still pay out valuable overseas exchange to import tinned salmon instead of utilising a home - grown product. The angler has always had the privilege of catching his own salmon under the terms of an acclimatised-fish fishing licence, but he should remember it is a privilege granted by the rest of the community and not his exclusive right.

Bone of contention

The general public once had the right to buy fresh salmon caught by a limited number of nets working under licences issued by the department, and from a small number of anglers who bought rod-selling licences. After World War II salmon angling as a sport grew at a rate which still shows no sign of diminishing. The commercial nets alongside the sports angler became a bone of contention.

When the Highbank power station began working and it was discovered that numbers of salmon entered the tailrace and became trapped, the department, and the net fishermen, carried out a few trial nettings there to see if a supply of salmon for the public could be obtained from this source.

Because the acclimatisation societies wanted the commercial nets removed from the popular river-mouth fishing area, they took over the netting at Highbank and retained the money from the sale of these fish for salmon protection and conservation work.

The Minister of Marine listened to representations from the societies and after getting their assurance to supply a minimum of 750 salmon annually for sale, agreed to abolish the commercial netting licences. The South Island Salmon Committee, comprising members of five east coast societies concerned with salmon and the department, was

formed to manage the Highbank operation and later installed a trap to do away with netting.

Killing at Highbank

What happened at Highbank is history, those who participated will have their own opinions. From my own experience I can only say it was a long, hard night’s work and no picnic. All the fish taken were not killed, but some were salvaged and returned to the river. It is easy to dramatise these operations as a “bloodbath” but I know of no quicker, cleaner way to kill fish which has to be killed than by giving it a sharp blow on the head. This is something every salmon fisherman, including Mr Hughey, does when he catches a fish.

Because of a changed pattern of water use, no salmon have been taken from Highbank for the market for years. The trap has gone and so has the non-fishing public’s right to buy a piece of freshcaught salmon. It is unlikely, while the acclimatisation societies hold to their present beliefs, that quinnat salmon will ever be regarded as other than a purely sport fish.

Joint effort

Mr Hughey can rightly claim to have objected strenuously to the taking of salmon for sale, right from the beginning of his interest in the fish—so have others. However he should not allow one particular society to be singled out as the villain of the piece. The Highbank operations were a joint society effort and, considering the climate of the times and the circumstances, were an honest attempt by responsible men to meet the obligation to the public they had undertaken in return for a genuine gain to the sports angler. It is scarcely sporting to criticise the present acclimatisation society officers for the actions of their predecessors which might not now be in accord with current thinking. To be fair they are today different men who have leamt from past experience and have their own views and appreciation of the problems which confront the salmon fishery.

I have dwelt at some length on the Highbank operation. However, it is ■necessary to demonstrate that there is more to these things than Mr Hughey would have us believe. A number of other points in Mr McGoverne’s article make colourful reading, but

do little to assist those who know the real facts. From the aims and intentions of the New Zealand Salmon Anglers’ Association, as expressed in the article, it is difficult to fix their place in the scheme of things. As a group to foster interest in their particular branch of the sport they are understandable; as a declared pressure group on the acclimatisation societies they are an anomaly.

Society’s powers

An acclimatisation society is an incorporated body with statutory powers under the Fisheries and Wildlife Acts to protect, conserve, administer and manage freshwater fisheries and wildlife. Its membership consists of licensed anglers and shooters. The councils which manage the affairs of the society are elected from the membership.

If we substitute “anglers” for “acclimatisation society” in the article we arrive at the curious situation where the anglers are critical and dissatisfied with their own efforts to manage their own fishery. Surely, if they have such a well-developed sense of inadequacy and frustration, the direction of their aim should be through the society ballot box? A splinter can prick but it is not nearly as useful as a solid wooden club to beat some sense into those who are hell-bent to destroy our natural environment and to deprive the majority of New Zealanders of the outdoor pleasure and enjoyment of our beautiful country.

Salmon committee

The South Island Salmon Committee of the Council of South Island Acclimatisation Societies has a membership of all the societies and government departments with an interest in the salmon fishery. From its limited role of bygone years of managing the Highbank trap it has expanded and will develop—given the support of its angler membership—as the coordinating body (pressure group if you like the phrase) for the management of the fishery and to see it is preserved and maintained in the face of the problems which confront it. The Salmon Committee is finding its feet, but it already has some solid achievements to its credit, not the least of these being the well-attended and valuable quinnat salmon fishery symposium held in Ashburton in October last year. The symposium clari-

fied a lot of the thinking about the fishery and pointed out possible effective lines of management. These, and other matters under discussion, will begin to show, in the near future, how good combined action on the part of the anglers can be.

In 1968 the committee called for a report to review the progress of the Glenariffe trap work and to outline future research needs. This report was presented in early 1969 but. through circumstances beyond the committee’s control, it has only recently been published. However, curiously enough, this report poses several of the questions Mr Hughey’s organisation would now like answered.

Hesearch programme

The South Island council actively supports a Marine Department salmon research programme, which at present absorbs the energies of more than 50 per cent of the department’s freshwater fisheries research staff; it includes two biologists and is expensive, both to the taxpayer and the angler. In the current economic situation it would be difficult to expand it beyond present resources. While the research programme is making steady progress the field to be covered is very large. Some aspects of the work have reached a stage where tentative management application is suggested. Until the work is properly completed and the results fully analysed would it not be unwise to dissipate effort in pursuing possibilities when, with a little more patience, these can be converted into probabilities? No doubt Mr Hughey would say, and I would agree, that the irrigators and dam builders will not wait until all this research is done; the problems are with us now and not 10 years away. But the research must be done, competently and thoroughly, and the management agencies must be geared to keep pace. In the meantime we must fight a holding action to maintain what we have. Let us be honest and say that all concerned have been a bit slow in starting. Whether we are too late, and something that is of inestimable value slips through our fingers, will depend now on our own efforts. Let it be a united effort, so that future generations of New Zealanders cannot say we were not bright enough to stand up together and shout: “hands off, that is worth keeping.”