Whitebait oil the run

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 18

Whitebait oil the run

7 The. . whitebait season opened in the'South; Island..; ■yesterday — not a good day for week-end fishermen, but convenient for.! commercial whitebaiters. ;.-•. . .Enthusiasts would have .been well prepared; with 'their favourite places reserved •' and nets ready, waiting for the balloon to go up. There is no time to be lost because the season is short and every day counts. ' ■•■<■■■•■-■' Whitebait are the young of the inanga, a tiny greenish-yellow fish only. 10cm to 15cm long. The adult fish live in, _ the upper reaches of rivers , and streams with an out- , let to the sea. . In February:they begin to move downstream, to ; lay their eggs in the estuary grasses. The laying - and. hatching of the eggs is regulated by the high -spring tides which occur twice a month, after the new moon and the full moon. ' On the first spring tide after they are ready to spawn, the inanga crowd to the highest limit the tide reaches to lay their eggs. The tide recedes leaving the eggs high and dry for a fortnight until the next spring tide. If the following spring tide does not quite reach the .eggs, they will remain unhatched for two weeks longer. . ~ - After the eggs have hatched the young fish swim out to sea to feed for six months. Starting about July, the whitebait collect in shoals to head for''the-river mouths and . swim upstream, but, many do not get far because the ' whitebaiters’ nets are waiting for them. However, the season is short to ensure that plenty survive to breed the follow- , ingyear. '■ The West Coast has, always been known as good whitebait country, and-it has been running in some rivers over there for two or three weeks. The Okarito lagoon 'may have been disturbed by poa--chers, but they will not have to'pay a penalty be- ' cause ■ they' are outside the law. so to speak. ' * These possible poachers are white herons (kptuku) which -will be assembling in, the. sanctuary at Roto 1 Creek, ‘.forf the breeding •: season. < V ' > . ' J .From January to late winter the white herons , . are . scattered.. throughout New Zealand in the shal- ; lows of rivers, lakes and . lagoons, -and in coastal es- . tuaries. ...until. the .time comes for ; them to -return

in ones and. twos to the . sanctuary.. •>,} C The heronry is situated at Roto Creek not far ; / from the head of Okarito lagoon, about 15km-from -.Okarito. a once-thriving ' \gold town with a population of 1250, now almost a deserted village. . • . . In the seclusion of the forest the white, herons. build their nests in trees and fems close to the water, protected from land predators by the surrounding marshes. Wild , cats, rats and dogs, which could be a threat to the nesting birds, will not venture on to the watery earth. ..The. sanctuary ..seems to , . be able to accommodate its growing population quite comfortably. Over the last 30 years the white •herons have- been joined . by distant relatives, the royal spoonbills, which I wrote about last week. In company with the rare and rather glamorous water birds are large numbers of more homely shags, of two species. The white and the little pied shags do not disturb their neighbours. On the contrary, they are sometimes robbed of food. The tall sharp-billed white heron is not above snatching a fish from a shag’s mouth. This elegant flier seems to have a large . appetite, and it is not squeamish in its eating habits. To add a touch of variety to the usual ; diet of small fish, . shrimps, frogs and insects, the kotuku likes a bird now and .. then. It has been watched while eating a white-eye. The doomed bird disappeared in two or three gulps — head first, feathers and . all. The white heron has also been seen to eat sparrows, ducklings, chickens and on one occasion a kingfisher. To such a gourmet, • . whitebait, a rare and expensive luxury to us, is small fry indeed. Th® sojourn at Roto Creek is short. By January the young birds will have learned to fly, but not without a lot of practice, • and perhaps a mishap or two? They have difficulty in taking off and landing, at first. The adults will be losing the dorsal plumes that deck their backs in the breeding, season,; and their bills will be chang-

ing from striking black to a more neutral "yellow. -Dressed for the ; outside world. these “birds; of ' a single flight” as ... the Maoris called them, will leave-their peaceful haven to, find; places to ? >.liye around the coasts and in-land’waters-up and down New Zealand " ’