Fishy story of feuds just a tale

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 1

Fishy story of feuds just a tale

Nelson reporter

The story, at first, appeared to have everything. Feuding Takaka District whitebaiters, shotgun blasts ripping into the interior of a whitebaiter’s shed and two boats, the unexplained burning of the shed and the dispatch of the police in an arson investigation.

“We are treating the fire as arson, but that is about all that is in it," said Detective Neil Charlton of the Nelson C. 1.8. in Takaka yesterday. The damage caused by the firearm happened on the last day of the duckshooting season, but . the structure damaged was not the shed which burned down.

"We are not linking the two incidents." said Detective Charlton. “I am a little embarrassed,” said Constable Tony Cunningham, the Takaka policeman. Very little of what goes on in his district does not reach his ears, but apart from the usual grizzles about the whitebait stands, he knew of no feud among whitebaiters, he said. The story, it appears, began last year with the cutting of a new diversion for the Takaka River to the sea by the Nelson Catchment Board. A group of Takaka District whitebaiters were quick to seize advantage of the cut, which apparently enticed a lot of whitebait into the river — and their nets — last season. About 45 of them in an unofficial club bought an old Ministry of Works shed, obtained a permit and the permission of Mr Fred Fellowes to put it on his land, renovated it. and added to it.

On the day the duckshooting season began, a nearby shed was broken into, and shotgun blasts ripped open bedding and roofing and punched holes in two boats. Last Thursday evening, while members of the unnamed “club” were meeting in a local hotel, Constable Cunningham was advised the shed was on fire. It burned to the ground. Rumours which quickly circulated to Nelson resulted in a police team of Detective Charlton, a sergeant and a constable from Motueka being sent over to help Constable Cunningham unravel the mystery. No complaint has yet been lodged. Although the fire is being treated as arson, stories about amateur whitebaiters feuding with commercial whitebaiters are said by the police team to have been grossly exaggerated.