Lake Ferry whitebaiters? struggle for a catch

REPORTS of slow progress for whitebaiters have come as no surprise to Lake Ferry resident and hotelier, Mary Tipoki.
Guests at the Lake Ferry Hotel and the Holiday Park, both owned by the Tipoki family, have told Mrs Tipoki that whitebait are being caught "in dribs and drabs" but she hasn't heard of any substantial catches.
"From what I observe, the catches are not consistent any more, and that is no surprise."
Mrs Tipoki said she has noticed "so many changes" to the environment in her 35 years at Lake Ferry, and believes changes to whitebait habitats are directly related to diminishing numbers.
"Look what people have done to (the whitebait's) environment. If we continue to ruin their waterways, eventually we may not have any at all."
Lake Ferry is known as something of a whitebait mecca. Many keen "baiters" make their annual pilgrimage to the lake every season, parking up camper vans or setting up tents for months at a time, just to try their luck.
But Mrs Tipoki said soon there might be nothing for these people to catch.
"Our focus these days is on use of land - it's been a priority for years now - so waterways have given way to land.
"All these rivers, bridges, weirs ? fish can't get through them so they can't reach their feeding grounds."
Several years ago, Mrs Tipoki worked together with Department of Conservation Officer Albert Rebergen (who is now based in Christchurch) to try and raise awareness about responsible use of wetlands and waterways. But, she says, the situation has only continued to get worse.
Mrs Tipoki said draining of land in South Wairarapa during the 1960's played a major part in the destruction of wetlands in the area, much of which were the habitat of whitebait populations.
"It's more destruction of habitat than overfishing that is affecting whitebait numbers ? 95 per cent of the wetlands have now been destroyed."
In the meantime, Mrs Tipoki said there is still a solid team of whitebaiters trying their luck at Lake Ferry. She heard that a couple of baiters caught over a pound each at the weekend.
"Those people were lucky," she said.
"Apparently a shoal went through. But that's what whitebaiting is all about ? being in the right place at the right time, and having a lot of patience."