As the whitebait season closes for 2020, Forest & Bird says it is looking for changes before the next season to help native fish recover.
Whitebait are the juveniles of native freshwater fish. Four of the fish species that make-up whitebait are threatened or in decline, but they are caughtin a fishery with few restrictions, says Forest & Bird.
"Our native fish are amazing and they are in real trouble. They need healthy habitats to live in and they need a fishery that gives them a chance to recover," Forest & Bird freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen said in a statement.
"Both fishers and environmentalists want to make sure these fish are here for future generations – both groups want to see things like a catch limit and licence in place by next season."
The Department of Conservation ran a consultation on whitebait management in 2020 which showed strong support from both fishers and non-fishers for better rules for managing and monitoring the whitebait fishery, Forest & Bird said.
The Minister of Conservation is expected to make a decision about new whitebait fishing rules before the 2021 whitebait season.
"By next whitebait season we could have some new rules to protect our fish, like licensing so DoC knows how many people are fishing, or a catch limit to make sure people don't take more than is sustainable," Cohen said.
Other management options consulted on by DoC included phasing out exports, shortening the season, and creating some river "refuges" for whitebait.
