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Robyn Edie/Stuff
Ron King, son Paul and wife Marj, all of Invercargill, set up their whitebait stand on the Matuara River, near Fortrose, ahead of the season opening on September 1. The family have been white-baiting for decades and the fifth generation of their family is now involved.
The whitebait season can’t come soon enough for the King family, and as far as they’re concerned it will end way too soon.
The 2022 season starts on September 1 and ends on October 30, making it six weeks shorter than previous seasons.
The Department of Conservation has shortened the season to prevent overfishing, saying four of the six species of whitebait were classified as threatened or at risk of extinction.
But for Invercargill’s Ron and Marg King and son Paul, who were preparing their two family stands on the Mataura River on Wednesday, there was no need to shorten the season.
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They have been catching whitebait on the Mataura River for 30 years and said the 2021 season was their best for catching the delicacy.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
The Mataura River is the longest in Southland. We speak to people who rely on the river from the different sections it covers in the south.
“They think the whitebait is in decline which is crazy,” Marj said.
They believed in letting nature take its course.
“The whitebait look after themselves, they will either run or they won’t,” Ron said.
Ron and Marj go white baiting every day during the season, saying it was their holiday time, while Paul goes between work commitments at the Tiwai aluminium smelter. He loved getting out into the open and catching whitebait and seeing trout, sea lions, black swans and white herons.
Environment Southland compliance Manager Donna Ferguson said it monitored 651 consented whitebait stands in Southland and staff would be checking as many stands as it could next week.
The more popular white baiting rivers were the Mataura, Titiroa and Aparima rivers, which had many stands, while the pastime could also be enjoyed on any Southland riverbank.
Nets were monitored and enforced by the Department of Conservation.
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