{"id":7686,"date":"2025-09-07T09:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T09:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/7686\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T09:17:10","slug":"waimakariri-whitebaiters-set-up-controversial-camp-as-new-season-opens-with-a-battle-for-prime-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/7686\/","title":{"rendered":"Waimakariri whitebaiters set up controversial camp as new season opens with a battle for prime spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeveralSeveral structures and camping set ups, including tents, erected along the northern banks of the Waimakariri river. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

One person the Herald spoke to mentioned that although he was unable to attend during the week, he needed to secure a spot for a child so they could still go whitebaiting on the weekends.<\/p>\n

He said he understood the excitement of others but noted that it made participating difficult for those who were unable to camp out for weeks at a time. <\/p>\n

\"AlthoughAlthough the season started on September 1, many started securing their spots weeks ago. Photo \/ George Heard <\/p>\n

A Waimakariri District Council spokesperson said staff would be ramping up efforts to keep things in order, deploying staff to monitor the temporary encampments.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said overnight camping on the beach or sand dunes was not permitted.<\/p>\n

\"SeveralSeveral structures and camping set-ups, including tents, erected along the northern banks of the Waimakariri river. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

They said the council would also be working closely alongside the Department of Conservation (DoC). <\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulation of whitebaiting is a joint agency approach; DoC rangers will be monitoring the river mouth throughout the season,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe council\u2019s role is making sure that Pegasus Bay is used appropriately and in line with the Pegasus Bay Bylaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the bylaw, freedom [and] overnight camping on the beach or sand dunes is not permitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said council staff would be visiting the site and \u201ctaking an education before enforcement\u201d approach in the first instance.<\/p>\n

\"AA Waimakariri District Council spokesperson said under the Pegasus Bay Bylaw, overnight camping on the beach or sand dunes is not permitted. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

Matthew, a Christchurch man, has been whitebaiting since the 1990s, having learned the craft from his grandfather. <\/p>\n

He said it \u201cnever used to be like this\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more rules nowadays, like how long your net and pole can be and stuff, and I know that can be frustrating for some people, but it\u2019s gotten ridiculous,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, it\u2019s been getting worse and worse. And not just at the Waimak, but also at the Avon and Heathcote Rivers too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of us who do it because we love it and always have, and then there\u2019s the cowboys who make the rest of us look bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do stuff like illegal fishing overnight, camping and leaving their mess behind, working in big networks to take over the rivers and having dangerous, threatening dogs to scare locals away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA Waimakariri District Council spokesperson said under the Pegasus Bay Bylaw, overnight camping on the beach or sand dunes is not permitted. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

Matthew said many local people from around the area had complained, and he had copped abuse himself. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re at the end of their tether, which I can understand,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast season, I got so annoyed myself I started reporting it to the council and DoC and honestly, nothing happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pass it on to the other department and hand you on to the next person until you are going in circles and give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s messy I think, because ECan sort the river and water itself, the Department of Fisheries or whatever looks after the fish and the sea life in the water, and then council and DoC sort out the actual riverbed themselves – so they all just pass it along.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople started to set up at the Waimakariri river three weeks ago. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

He said overfishing and staying out on the river way past the end of the season were also issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told DoC about that so many times last year and in the end, it was basically \u2018we\u2019re really busy, we will go down and visit them and let them know to stop\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the guys out there know nothing will actually happen, so they just do it anyway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t care there\u2019ll be no whitebait left for our kids and grandkids if they keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

DoC introduced new rules for whitebaiters in 2021. <\/p>\n

Biodiversity senior ranger Mailee Stanbury said it was important all whitebaiters follow the rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the responsibility of all whitebaiters, whether they are camping or not, to follow the whitebaiting regulations,\u201d Stanbury said. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Regulations] are designed to take pressure off the fishery and improve equity of fishing opportunity between whitebait fishers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhitebaiting is only allowed from 5am to 8pm, or 6am to 9pm during daylight savings.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can find whitebaiting regulations on DoC\u2019s website, which include rules on spacing, gear and fishing within tidal limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the DoC website, there is no specific limit on the amount of whitebait that can be caught at one time. <\/p>\n

However, each person is allowed to use only one net at a time. <\/p>\n

This net must not exceed 3.5m in length, and its mouth must not be larger than 4.5m.<\/p>\n

Additionally, drag nets must not be taller than 1m and must lie flat when placed on a flat surface.<\/p>\n

Fishing gear must also be removed from the water at the end of each fishing day and whenever a person takes a break.<\/p>\n

The maximum length of whitebait fishing gear must also not exceed six metres.<\/p>\n

The enforcement of these rules is carried out by DOC. <\/p>\n

The whitebait season in New Zealand has just started and will last until October 30, except in the Chatham Islands, where it runs from December 1 until the end of February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several structures and camping set ups, including tents, erected along the northern banks of the Waimakariri river. Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3471,806,5837,10045,10040,10043,10039,9183,10044,2082,10046,117,111,43,139,529,69,2680,1523,415,10042,6739,6926,1551,544,10041,165,7563,810,10037,10047,10038,102],"class_list":["post-7686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-among","tag-as","tag-battle","tag-brews","tag-camp","tag-canterburys","tag-controversial","tag-eager","tag-excitement","tag-for","tag-hands","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-opens","tag-over","tag-prime","tag-rises","tag-river","tag-season","tag-set","tag-some","tag-spots","tag-their","tag-those","tag-up","tag-waimakariri","tag-whitebait","tag-whitebaiters","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}