Australian wants Waitaki R. saved

Press, 12 April 1978, Page 2

Australian wants Waitaki R. saved

PA "7 Timaru ? .* An Australian expert in the field of freshwater fishing has called on New Zealanders to save the Waitaki River from destruction by hydro-electric development schemes. Mr J. B. Sautelie, who lives near- Cooma, the gateway to the Snowy Mountains, believes that all organisations interested in the preservation of fishing as a sport and recreation should band together to “speak with one voice” against further damage to the river. A fisherman for 50 years, Mr Sautelie is freshwater editor of “Modern Fishing,” a magazine circulated in Australia and New Zealand. He is deputy chairman of the New South Wales Amateur Fishermen’s Advisory Council, a body set up by the state government to advise on sea and freshwater fishing; a life member and senior vice-president of the Australian Freshwater Fishermen’s Assembly; and a life member and vice-president of the New South Wales Institute of Freshwater Fishing, which acts for all acclimatisation societies.

Mr Sautelle said yesterday that while the lower Waitaki hydro plans were still in the “proposal” stage he had seen and heard enough on his present visit to New Zealand to have no doubt that they would go ahead. “The scheme will completely, ruin the spawning of trout and the salmon run to the Hakataramea River where quinnat salmon were successfully released some years ago,” he said. “The argument has been put up by the Ministry of Works and Development and the Electricity Department

that cheap power has greater importance than fishing for recreation. In the short term that may be so, but we must look ahead for 100 years. If this sort of thing happens in other streams as well, what will be left? It is so easy to put a dollar sign on electricity.” Mr Sautelle said that already a lot of damage had besn done to the Waitaki River in the preliminary investigations. Iti particular, there had been interference’ with some of the side streams which: were the nurseries for growing trout. Some of the side streams had been completely diverted. “This has been particularly noticeable over the last four years,” he said. “I would like to see a moratorium on the scheme for five years so that a full investigation can be undertaken by acclimatisation societies and other concerned bodies.” Mr Sautelle said that a group of Australian fishermen, members of the Southern Fly Fishers of Victoria, who had been coming to New Zealand regularly, were most concerned about the possible loss of the Waitaki — so concerned, in fact, that they had raised $340 to help the local people to “fight the take-over.”