Whitebait: 3c ea?

Press, 2 September 1981, Page 1

Whitebait: 3c ea?

Whitebait catches were poor on both sides of the Main Divide when the 1981 season opened yesterday. Low river levels, clear skies, and brilliant sunshine combined to produce meagre returns in the Grey River at Greymouth. Plenty of whitebaiters, many of them schoolchildren on holiday, flocked to the riverbanks to take advantage of the weather. For most of the day they appeared to outnumber the whitebait.

e Several stands have been e built under the Greymouth 1 waterfront, and one group, ensconced on the famous r “big rock,” has made itself e more comfortable by installe ing a small stove. t According to one agent, the average catch on the Buller River yesterday was n only about a cupful. e This season’s starting price e from agents was expected to f be about $B.BO a kilogram, he: o said. Whitebait cost between $2.40 and $2.50 a lOOgm in

Christchurch shops last season, compared with $2 the year before. Some retailers expect this season's price to exceed $3 a 100 grams, or about 3c a whitebait. The first supplies should be on sale in Christchurch by Friday. Very few whitebaiters bothered to try their luck yesterday in Canterbury rivers, where the whitebait do not usually start to run until middle or late October.