Fishing in New Zealand extra $50 a day?

Fishing in New Zealand extra $50 a day? © RFA of NSW

New Zealand Fish & Game is proposing a new freshwater fishing licence for non-resident anglers who fish in 'Designated Waters', to 'manage angling pressure in sensitive fisheries'.

A number of fisheries would be named as Designated Waters, and any angler wishing to fish these fisheries would be required to hold a 'Designated Waters' licence.

For non-resident anglers this would be additional DAILY licence...even though visiting anglers already need to have a Whole Season Licence at a cost of $250.00 (much higher that the resident licence which costs just $145.00).

It is proposed that the additional daily licences for Designated Waters will cost between $35-50 per day. They will be set for a nominated calendar day (not a 24 hr period).

Non-resident anglers would only be able to buy three to six Designated Waters licences in each Fish and Game region each year, and then they would have to fish in another Fish and Game region where they could purchase additional Designated Waters licences. But note that if you have a favourite stream, you will now only be able to fish in it three to six days in a year.

Resident anglers would only need to purchase a Designated Waters Licence at a cost of $5 and that would cover them for the full season. It's not clear if resident anglers need a licence for each Designated Water or whether that covers all of them.

It's not clear how non-resident anglers would book fishing days in the Designated Waters, how they would nominate the days, how far ahead they could book, whether they could cancel or transfer bookings in case of bad weather or other unforeseen events, or whether they could get credits for licences bought but not used. (The NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers twice tried to contact NZ Field & Game to double check these details but didn't get a response.)

The 'Designated Waters' seem likely to be the waters that are currently classified as 'Backcountry' waters, and which currently require an additional Back Country Licence on top of the annual licence (but that Backcountry is currently available without any additional fee.)

Those Backcountry waters are:

Wellington

• Rangitikei River
• Whakaurekou River

Nelson/Marlborough

• Goulter River
• Matakitaki River
• Travers River
• Wairau River

West Coast

• Karamea River
• Mokihinui River

North Canterbury

• Hope River
• Hurunui River, Upper & South Branch
• Waiau River

Central South Island

• Ohau River

Otago

• Caples River
• Dingle Burn
• Greenstone River
• Hunter River
• Lochy River
• Nevis River
• Pomahaka River
• Wilkin River
• Young River

Southland

• Clinton River
• Ettrick Burn
• Upper Oreti River
• Worsley River

Final decisions on which rivers/streams to classify as Designated Waters will be made by regional Fish & Game Councils and will apparently be reviewed annually. There are more details here

To sum up, non-resident anglers are not only charged twice the licence fee as locals to fish, but they will be charged extra daily fees and will be restricted to fewer days fishing in each Designated Waters region.

NZ Fish & Game has a consultation survey here.

If you fish in NZ it might be worth completing the survey, which is only open until 27 March.