Fishing suggestion gets mixed reaction

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 5

Fishing suggestion gets mixed reaction

PA Wellington A suggestion by a Wellington businessman, Mr Bob Jones, that foreign sporting fishermen be barred from certain areas, has met a mixed reaction in New Zealand angling circles. While many New Zealand fishermen resent the large influx of tourists to popular fishing spots, such as the Tongariro River, there is a strong feeling that foreign fishermen are good for the long-term future of sporting fishing in New Zealand. A spokesman for the Tourist and Publicity Department, Mr Tony Orman, said that overseas fishermen were better conservationists than their New Zealand counterparts.

Mr Orman, emphasising that he was speaking as a keen angler and the author of several books on trout fishing, said that although Mr Jones had not necessarily taken issue with the conservation aspect, it had to be taken into account.

“What Bob Jones, and many other New Zealand fishermen, are upset about

is that they no longer have their favourite pools to themselves,” he said.

“But very often, the Government tends to see the value of natural resources such as rivers in terms of money and how many dollars can be earned from them.

“I would rather see the dollars coming from tourist fishermen than from a hydro-electric dam. At least that way you keep the river and everyone can still use it.”

The national director of the Acclimatisation Society, Mr Bryce Johnson, said that there was rising concern among New Zealand anglers that tourists were competing for the popular fishing waters.

Mr Johnson said that because of the Tongariro River’s international reputation as a prime fishing river, it was likely the problem would become more acute and he doubted whether anything could be done to solve it. “I think we all have to accept that the days of having your favourite pool

on the Tongariro River all to yourself are over,” he said.

“What we’re concerned ■ about is that the people who are making money from this tourism will put something back into the natural resource they rely upon for their bread and butter.”

Mr Johnson supported the idea of setting aside certain areas as wilderness fisheries.

“The kind of situation that upsets many New Zealand fishermen is when they’ve back-packed into a wilderness area and are enjoying a quiet bit'of fishing when a helicopter carrying three or four American fishermen suddenly arrives."

Mr Johnson said that banning the use of helicopters and four-wheel-drive vehicles from any area designated as a wilderness fishery would preserve such areas for the relatively few fishermen prepared to make the necessary effort to reach them.