The fact that, here in clean green New Zealand, we allow people to catch and sell species that are threatened with extinction, continues to blow my mind.
Conservation status
Whitebait are the juveniles of five species of fish: giant kōkopu, banded kōkopu, shortjaw kōkopu, inanga, and kōaro. Inanga are the most common of the native fish species that make up the "whitebait catch". Galaxiid species are found in many places in the Southern Hemisphere, however the giant, shortjaw and banded kōkopu are endemic to New Zealand.
Currently, approximately three-quarters (72%) of our known native freshwater fish are threatened with, or at risk of, extinction. Four of these five species (except banded kōkopu) have been classified by DoC as "at risk declining" or "threatened nationally vulnerable". Some New Zealand native birds, such as the great spotted kiwi and yellow-eyed penguin, have similar threat rankings to whitebait.
Life cycle
Native fish love bushy streams, where they find both shelter and food, with insects falling from overhanging plants. The main breeding season for our galaxiids is autumn. Inanga migrate downstream to estuaries and lay their eggs among plants, whereas kōaro and kōkopu stay where they are and lay their eggs on leaf litter and forest plants. The eggs stay out of water for several weeks, and need plant cover to keep moist. They hatch when re-immersed, either by spring tides (for inanga) or floods (for kōaro and kōkopu). The larvae then float out to sea where they live and grow over winter, migrating back upstream as whitebait in spring (the fishing season). It is when they are returning to freshwater habitats as juveniles that they are collectively known as whitebait.
Why is this happening?
DOC states that the "main threats to inanga are habitat disturbance and modification", which completely ignores the fact that tonnes of these fish are pulled out of rivers, by humans, each year. DOC continues that other threats to whitebait include:
- Barriers to fish passage
- Poor water quality
- Spawning habitat disturbance
- Waterway modification
- Habitat modification
- Invasive weeds and fish, predators
- Removal of native vegetation
DOC only acknowledges fishing pressure as a potential threat, "as not well-understood, and that in some rivers there may be some impacts on sub-populations of inanga" but that these impacts would be "dependent on the size of the river and the number of people fishing there".
Planning frameworks
In terms of species planning, the Minister for Conservation is responsible for the Whitebait Fishing Regulations 1994, the Conservation Act 1987, and the Freshwater Fisheries Regulations 1983.
The Whitebait Fishing Regs restrict fishing to a season 15 August to 30 November — the upstream migration period for the juveniles.
The Freshwater Fisheries Regs are completely useless for protection of whitebait given that Reg 70 "No person shall in any water intentionally kill or destroy indigenous fish" does not apply to "the taking of whitebait, or eels, or other indigenous fish... for purposes of human consumption".
The Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill was being heard at the time of writing, aiming to improve the workability of the Conservation Act 1987. As much use as a smoke signal at night — if the government was serious about preventing four native species from going extinct by 2050, they would make extraction illegal and toughen up riparian management policy.
Of course, regulatory intervention would not be required if people stopped eating and buying the stuff.
The numbers
Environmental scientist Kyleisha Foote undertook an assessment of the NZ Freshwater Fish database and projected that "all five species are likely to be extinct by 2034". Foote presented the Primary Production Select Committee with a petition calling for a ban on the sale of whitebait. The petition received 3,157 signatures. Parliament thanked the petitioner, and responded that the Minister has launched the national fish passage guidelines, to "help freshwater fish, including whitebait, breed by ensuring that instream structures do not obstruct the passage of fish". However, DOC then went on to say "the department considers that habitat loss is the most significant factor in the decline of whitebait". New fish passage guidelines aren't going to help with habitat loss, and neither addresses the issue of unsustainable fishing.
Paul Franklin estimated that a whitebait fritter could take close to 650,000 eggs from the environment. Even assuming a 1% maturation rate, that's an opportunity cost of 6,500 fish from our awa.