The History of Whitebaiting in New Zealand

    Whitebait is a small transparent fish measuring between 45 and 65 mm.  There are 23 species with inanga making up 80% of their number.  Some of the most common whitebait are koaro, shortjaw, banded kokopu, giant kokopu and shortjaw kokopu.  Whitebait mostly swim in shoals, coming from the sea and moving up rivers for hundreds of kilometres to spawn.  The whitebait sometimes pass over waterfalls to get to a suitable destination to lay their eggs.  These hatch into larvae and are washed out to sea on the high spring tides during the lunar cycle.

Hokitika Museun, 11674.

    Whitebaiting season is popular and has attracted whitebaiters to the rivers of New Zealand for centuries.  The Maori caught them in woven nets made of stripped flax.  There were many types of nets, traps and ways to catch them.  Some of the bait were caught in lakes and whitebait was dried on stones, on flax mats in the sun or over a fire before being stored in kete (flax baskets) to be eaten in the winter.  Whitebait is a wonderful form of protein and has little fat.  When European settled Maori began selling it to them.  Europeans also caught whitebait and made nets out of supplejack and curtain muslin.  The early Chinese gold miners and pioneering women caught the fish to supplement their diet and income.  The women often went baiting while their men worked at other employment.

                               Whitebait canning factory Hokitika, 4578.                                                 

                                                  Kevin Lyes Collection, Hokitika Museum. 

    
    In those earlier days, bait was so abundant that excesses were used as garden fertiliser.  However, by the 1890s, whitebait was declining in most parts of New Zealand.  During this time the West Coast was still having good catches.  It was measured by the pint and sold for sixpence a measure and was often sold publicly on the street or in pubs.

    South Westland has the best whitebaiting.  There the runs are usually longer and larger.  But it is a competitive pastime.  If a person fishing leaves their position on a river it is at risk of being quickly taken.

    As soon as the season finishes many of the baiters are repairing their equipment or contemplating making or buying new gear.  Spotting boards and UV shades are sometimes used to help see the translucent bait.

    The whitebaiting season is from 15 August until the end of November.  West Coasters have a shorter term.  Most of those participating are in position or scoping the rivers by early morning.  Many baiters have their own theories on when and where the whitebait will run.  The weather can change very quickly from warm sunshine to freezing rain.



            Diane Reeves at the Himatangi creek, with a scoop net. Fagan Reeves collection.

    But many of those fishing are committed and work the water for a whole season.  The fishing can be sporadic; some catch a lot of whitebait on a particular day while others trap little.  Those inquiring about a whitebaiter’s luck can be rebuffed without warning while others are welcomed with a jovial smile.  Tales on the river are numerous; the tallest being of large catches or the bait that got away.

    The Department of Conservation controls whitebaiting regulations in New Zealand.  Each river has its own rules relating to placement and size of screens, nets and stands.  Stands have to be reregistered each year.  Whitebaiters must stay within 10 metres of their net at all times and the regulated fines can amount to thousands of dollars.

James Fagan
Palmerston North
New Zealand