Source: Department of Conservation
By Helen Ough Dealy
Whitebaiting can be competitive. Some fishers will go to great lengths to protect their fishing spot, particularly if the whitebait are running well.
Fisher conversations tend to disguise the true nature of their haul, “How much you got today?” “Not much, just a cupful – enough for a feed, maybe a fritter or two.” All the while trying to carry a 10 kilogram bucketful as if it weighs less than 500 grams!
So, imagine the challenge DOC, as the whitebait fishery manager, faces. How do you count all the whitebait caught in a whitebaiting season? How big is the fishery?
These silvery delicacies are fished from streams, creeks, rivers and the surfline all over the country from Te Tai Tokerau, the Far North to Rakiura Stewart Island and Rēkohu/Wharekauri, the Chatham Islands.
The Whitebait Regulations don’t require fishers to report their catch. And, even if DOC had enough data collectors to cover every fishing spot, there’s only two months (between 1 September and 30 October) to count the white gold.
Fortunately, some fishers keep catch diaries for their own interest. Some diaries stretch back over 60 years, others just cover the previous season. These small, battered, often overlooked books are amazing repositories of weather, tide, gear, and catch data – some even record whitebaiter dances and get-togethers on the riverbank!
“Some whitebaiters have already shared this valuable resource with DOC,” says Emily Funnell, Freshwater Species Manager. “Their data is helping us better understand how much whitebait was caught, the weather conditions, river state, and fishing gear used.”
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DOC is currently doing a call-out for more whitebait catch diaries.
“It doesn’t matter what state the data or diary is in. We’ve seen pocket-sized farming diaries covered in mildew. Others are computer-based spreadsheet printouts,” says Emily.
“All data is useful, whether you’ve been whitebaiting for a short time or for decades. The more data about the whitebait catch we have, the better we can understand and protect the fishery and its species into the future.”
“And even if you aren’t a whitebaiter, check the family archives as this valuable information can be passed down the generations.”
Emily says privacy is important, so information in the diaries will be kept completely anonymous and combined with data from other whitebaiters’ diaries.
Once the diaries have been collected, they will be analysed by NIWA freshwater scientists. The research results are expected later in 2025.
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How can you help with research into the whitebait fishery?
Email whitebait@doc.govt.nz if you’d like to:
• Share your whitebait catch diaries
• Request a catch diary template to record the 2025 whitebaiting season
• Find out more about this research and the results.
[1] Kelly GR. 1988. An inventory of whitebaiting rivers of the South Island. Christchurch: New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. New Zealand Freshwater Fisheries Report No.: 101.
Yungnickel M. 2017. New Zealand’s whitebait fishery: Spatial and Temporal Variation in Species Composition and Morphology [MSc]. Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury.