Fish and Game Regulations Update - Part One

January 1999 - written by Ross Millichamp Daily Bag Limits
Many anglers have the belief that daily limit bags are a precise fisheries management tool which describe the sustainable level at which fish can be removed from a particular fishery. If the daily limit bag is four trout, many believe that each angler can remove that number each day without detrimentally affecting the fishery. Sadly, this is not the case and most fisheries would be in real trouble if all anglers adopted this approach. Daily limit bags are in most cases an indication of the relative sensitivity of the fishery to harvest pressure. A daily limit bag of four fish suggests the fishery is more robust than one with a limit bag of two. The only time that limit bags have a significant impact on overall harvest is when they restrict most anglers on most visits. Even if it were possible to set limit bags with enough precision to allow anglers to take that number of fish on each visit, it would make the regulations incredibly complex with hundreds of different limit bag regulations in some Fish and Game regions. In order to keep things simple, generalisations must be made when setting limit bag regulations in fisheries of similar type. Another common myth is that lower limit bags always result in lower angler harvest. In truth this is not always the case. If limit bags are set at high, virtually unattainable levels, then most anglers pay little attention to them when deciding at which point to call it a day. However, if limit bags are set at levels which many anglers feel are attainable, they may act as a target and cause the angler to stay out on the water until they catch their limit. In this situation lower bag limits can actually increase harvest as anglers strive to catch their ‘bag’. Flyfishing-Only Restrictions
Regulations that restrict anglers to the technique of flyfishing-only are often promoted as saviours of sensitive fisheries, which work by keeping bait and spin fishing anglers out. The inference is that those other techniques have a bigger impact on the fishery because they are more efficient at removing fish. This is probably the case with bait fishing but is less certain with respect to spinning. While spinning works very well when conditions are favourable, on most days flyfishing is the more productive technique. If flyfishing-only waters can be justified on fisheries conservation grounds, so could spinfishing-only waters. The truth is that flyfishing-only regulations are generally in place for social reasons. Fly anglers tend to require undisturbed water, which is unlikely to occur when spin anglers are in close proximity. In the North Canterbury region a small number of high country lakes are set aside for fly anglers so that they always have a place where they can be assured of undisturbed water. However, the vast majority of lakes in the region are open to both fly and spin anglers. Hook Sizes
In the past most Fish and Game regions had regulations which restricted anglers to using a hook no bigger than a certain size. This was promoted as a measure to reduce the number of fish foul hooked based on the assumption that the bigger the hook, the greater the chance it had of sticking into the side of a fish as it lay in the water. However, experience from the salmon fisheries, undoubtedly the foul hooking centre of the New Zealand freshwater fishing arena, suggests otherwise. Anglers who appear to be attempting to foul hook salmon almost invariably use smaller hook sizes than the maximum allowed. The reason is because smaller hooks are finer and hold a sharp point longer than bigger ones and are more likely to stick into the body of a fish rather than just brushing off. Most salmon ‘scratchers’, as they are colloquially known, tend to use single #4 hooks as a matter of choice, no matter what the maximum allowable size. Winter Fishing Regulations
Fish and Game made a countrywide effort a few years ago to open up more waters to winter angling. The reason for the push was that it was felt that some angling should be available every month of the year so those keen anglers always have somewhere to go. From a marketing perspective it was also great to be able to promote the licence as allowing fishing for a twelve-month period. However, there were soon problems as some anglers complained that increasing the season length would lead to winter anglers catching all the fish. Although the opening of some waters to all year fishing has in effect doubled the length of the open season, in reality few people take up the fishing opportunities on offer during the winter months. The lower reaches of the Rakaia are a good example of where winter anglers are often blamed for poor trout fishing in the following summer season. However, a visit to the Rakaia Lagoon during winter will typically turn up fewer anglers than you can count on the fingers of one hand. A similar trip on a warm summer’s evening could identify more than a hundred anglers fishing the shallow riffles for sea-run trout. These anglers could account for more trout in one evening than the entire catch by winter anglers over their five-month season! Some people would argue that winter fishing in the Rakaia Lagoon should be closed as it tends to cause a lot of trouble and only produces a handful of fish for those who make the effort to take part. However, those few anglers that fish during the winter tend to be different to those who fish in the summer. They choose to fish during the winter as it is the only time they get to fish on their own without being bothered by hordes of other anglers. Many of these are bait anglers who feel uncomfortable tying up the better water with their sedentary technique during the summer months. The presence of a winter season allows different types of anglers to take part in freshwater fishing without significantly impacting on the resource available to the majority. Fish and Game regulations are seldom able to satisfy the aspirations of all of its clients. However, the process of consulting with anglers before the regulations are set means that they come closer to the ideal than the products of most other regulatory authorities.