'Absolutely no plans' to ban whitebaiting, conservation minister says

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has rejected a claim from the National Party that a proposed new law could see the end of whitebaiting in New Zealand. 

"There are absolutely no plans to ban whitebaiting," Sage said. 

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Sage accused the Opposition of "mischief making", but National conservation spokesperson Sarah Dowie said the proposed law would give the minister the power to prohibit the taking of whitebait.

National would oppose the second reading of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill, due on Wednesday, Dowie said.

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"The bill does two things. It makes it illegal to take indigenous fish - or whitebait - from conservation areas unless there is an express authorisation to do so."

The fact the bill included transition clauses, which would allow whitebaiting in conservation areas for the first year after the law came into force, signalled the minister's intention, Dowie said. Once the year was up it would be illegal to take white bait from conservation areas unless continued fishing was authorised.

"The second thing is that on land that isn't conservation estate you can take fish, however it must be taken in accordance with regulation," Dowie said.

"And through that regulation for indigenous fish she has the ability to write management plans and create regulations that ultimately dictate that no fishing of whitebait can occur."

In her Facebook post, Sage said the bill would enable areas of conservation land to be closed to whitebaiting. "That means native fish can have some rivers and streams where they can swim upstream and spawn without ending up in a net and a whitebait patty."

"The whitebait fishery needs better management and the bill provides the tools to do that. And there will be public consultation before any changes are made to the whitebaiting regulations."

Sage said 74 per cent of New Zealand's native fish were threatened or at risk of extinction.

West Coast Whitebaiters Association president Cheryl Riley said she was very disappointed with the recommendations of the Environment Committee on the bill. 

"Most of the recommended changes to the bill are cosmetic at best. The bill will require whitebaiters to get authorisation from DOC to go whitebaiting in DOC areas, of which there are many throughout New Zealand, especially on the West Coast," she said.

"The bill continues to have confusing terms, such as fish larvae, which could include whitebait.  It allows DOC to impose a closed season for up to five years – since when has a season been more than one year?" she said. 

She said the Conservation Act was always designed to allow DOC to manage residual issues relating to freshwater fisheries management where they weren't being managed elsewhere, and undertake advocacy on behalf of indigenous freshwater fish.   

"Now Eugenie seems to think that DOC needs a primary freshwater management role via this bill, to build their empire and further justify their existence. We do not need another tier of management in the freshwater sphere. Increasing DOC's powers will just make things more complex, unwieldy and expensive," she said. 

The association will be holding a public meeting, attended by West Coast Labour MP Damien O'Connor, in Greymouth on Tuesday. 

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said while he did not have finer details of the minister's intention, she had signalled a significant change to the West Coasters "way of life". 

"What we do now by right, how we fish, how much we take will all be at the discretion of the minister for conservation and that is just unacceptable," he said. 

"It appears in many ways this minister has it in for Coasters," he said.