Science

On the Saturday just gone, the Auckland Waikato Fish & Game council's bi-monthly meeting was held. The district's angler's notice was not adjusted (i.e. season's regulations) based on some really strong scientific data; therefore the regulations will be unchanged. The backdrop to this is that with the general collapse of the Taupo district's fisheries (fish quality and size has dropped dramatically since 2005), more anglers are partaking of opportunity in our region's well known waters such as the Whakapapa and upper Wanganui. Add in the focus on these waters that was brought by the World Fly Fishing Champs several years ago, and its no wonder that pressure has increased dramatically on these rivers. Local anglers and a local outdoors business principal had put forward submissions indicating that the fishery is on the verge of collapse and that the new season's regs should address this; however science (observation data from drift dives) proved that the fish are still there. However the fish are most likely becoming harder to catch simply because the pressure they receive has made them far more wary.
The point is that with hard data it was relatively simple for the Fisheries Manager, Ben Wilson, to recommend that the next season's regulations remain the same as current.

There is a lot of concern around that our Mallard population is in decline. The undisputable fact in our region that botulism outbreaks in Tuakau and the Piako River mouth (completely unprecidented in a tidal environment) killed perhaps tens of thousands of mature birds (no one knows just how many...) most definitely impacted on the number of birds observed over the season. Game Bird Harvest Survey stats show the 3rd worst season ever in terms of birds harvested per effort expended. The issue that we have is the population dynamics that we are not observing. How fertile are our Mallards? What is the average clutch size? How many make it from egg to fledge (at which point they are relatively self sufficient)? What's killing them? What percentage are being predated and at what life stage? We just don't have definitive answers to the above.

There is quite a push at F&G regional level for a program of research but the way Fish & Game is organised it is almost impossible to get a focused effort underway that will encompass the entire nation. Put it this way, angling license revenue outstrips Game Bird license revenue by a factor of ~4. Of the 144 councillors nationwide, at a guess 80%+ are anglers. Each of the 12 regions has a representative at National Council. National Council is supposed to drive the organisation. If only 2 or 3 of the national council have game birds as their primary interest, its always going to be hard graft to get a centralised focus on researching what's happening to our ducks. Further, there's the issue of funding research. With funding of $115k granted by National F&G in year 1, most taken back from Southland Region's reserves (at least even though it was being taken back to central funding as a matter of course, Southland managed to get it ear marked for research), I don't know where or how anything solid will get underway - at the moment evaluation frameworks are being worked up by the team involved, but it all seems a bit vague.

I know this all sounds terribly pessimistic but its not (I just haven't had my first coffee yet); there's a glimmer of hope that we may soon have a small amount of scientific data by which we can start getting to grips with what's happening in duck world.