Anglers still oppose trout farms

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33062, 1 November 1972, Page 2

Anglers still oppose trout farms

GN.Z. Prej» Association) AUCKLAND, October 31. The Lake Taupo Angling Federation still opposes commercial trout farming in New Zealand, in spite of regulations specifically prohibiting the establishment of fish farms or related processing plants in the Taupo fishing district and in the Rotorua county. The considered view of the federation, said the president fMr O. S. Hintz) in a statement today, was that trout fanning anywhere in New Zealand threatened trout fishing everywhere in the tryThe threat arose from the 4

risk of fish diseases and from the intrusion of the “thin end of the commercial wedge” into the basic structure of recreational fishing. “We have not yet seen a copy of the regulations,” said Mr Hintz, “although we were given to understand that we would be permitted to study them before they were gazetted. In the circumstances, Cabinet approval for the regulations hardly seems to square with the rrime Minister’s assurance that the Government in this country does not interfere with sport or sporting arrangements.” “WELCOME” CHANGE Some of the details announced by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries (Mr Carter) were welcome, Mr Hintz said. The prohibition of fishing and fish-out ponds on fish farms removed an ob--

jectionable feature from earlier proposals. On the other hand, the Minister’s assurance that the regulations “would give the highest degree of protection to sport fishing in lakes and rivers” carried questionable weight. Protection would be effective only to the extent that the most, stringent regulations were strictly enforced. Trout fishermen seriously doubted the capacity or the will of the Freshwater Fisheries Division to maintain safeguards against commercial enterprises which it had actively supported, said Mr Hintz. MANY PETITIONS Numerous petitions against trout farming had been presented to Parliament last session from all parts of the : country, said Mr Hintz. They had presumably been shelved; 1

the will of departmental officials had apparently prevailed over the objections voiced by thousands of anglers. “All we can hope for at this juncture, and pending the reactivation of our various petitions to Parliament, is that the regulations will prove tough enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the commercial exploiters and that acclimatisation societies through the country trill maintain unceasing vigilance to support whatever rights of objection they may possess,” said Mr Hintz. “CONTEMPT” The Hawke’s Bay Federation of Angling Clubs said today that the passing of trout farm regulations by the Government, in the face of a number of petitions still before Parliament, showed contempt for public opinion.