First east coast-wide salmon harvest survey to start
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Anglers are being asked to actively particulate in the South Island salmon harvest survey. Photo: supplied.
South Island salmon anglers are being asked for their help in the first east coast-wide salmon harvest survey.
The Nelson/Marlborough, North Canterbury, Central South Island, and Otago Fish & Game Councils are asking anglers to actively participate in the annual sea-run salmon harvest survey that is about to be undertaken.
Fish & Game NZ says the survey comes at a critical time when sea-run salmon populations are at depressed levels and the COVID-19 alert level restrictions may compromise the ability of Fish & Game to undertake annual population monitoring in the field, such as helicopter-assisted spawning surveys.
The survey covers all sea-run salmon rivers of the South Island east coast, spanning the area from the Wairau River in the Nelson/Marlborough Region to the Clutha River in Otago.
Sports fishing licence holders can expect an online survey e-mailed to them over the next few days and others will be contacted on phone over the next two months.
The sea-run salmon survey identifies the number of anglers that target sea-run salmon each season and the number of salmon they harvested.
The total annual harvest is estimated by applying that information to all licenced anglers so it is important that as many anglers as possible participate in the survey.
“It’s easy for anglers to complete the online survey,” said survey manager Jayde Couper of Central South Island Fish & Game.
“The online survey only takes a few minutes for most anglers to fill in and provides critical information for Fish & Game to manage the sea-run salmon fishery”.
Those not active on e-mail will receive a phone call.
“I encourage all anglers that receive the online survey to fill it out even if you didn’t go sea-run salmon fishing or went sea-run salmon fishing but didn’t catch a salmon,” said Couper.
“The more online responses we get, the less phone surveys we have to undertake, which ultimately means a reduced cost on licence holders to effectively monitor the harvest levels of our sea-run salmon resource.”
Fish & Game NZ says monitoring of the sea-run salmon harvest has extra relevance this season as new restrictive regulations were introduced last year to allow a higher proportion of salmon to reach the spawning grounds by restricting angler harvest.
“The harvest survey gives us a tool to assess if our regulation changes are having the desired effects to conserve the sea-run salmon populations,” said Couper.
Fish & Game are also looking for contribution from visiting anglers, many who travel from places like the West Coast and Wellington regions to fish these highly valued sea-run salmon rivers such as the Rakaia and Rangitata.
In the coming months, an online survey will be made available for anglers who live outside of the east coast of the South Island so that they can contribute to the harvest survey.
