Concerned anglers have again asked: “What happened with the Maori trout farming proposal?” This has almost become an annual request. Considering the previous plans for a Lake Rotoaira based trout farm, they were concerned that Lake O might be next on the list. Or is this just anglers’ rumours? Or another conspiracy theory?

Their concerns were not helped by DOC’s response (Department of Conservation is the Fishery Manager in the Taupo Region whilst F&G Fish & Game manage the rest of NZ.). DOC replied to TRM’s questions in 2019 suggesting: “The department does not hold a view regarding this question.” TRM are not aware of any further developments on this issue.

This article started it all on May 13, 2019, Waatea News.com issued the following news article:

Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust keen on land-based trout farming around Lake Rotoaira

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The Māori owners of a lake under Mount Tongariro are backing an attempt to allow trout farming.

Parliament’s primary production committee is considering a petition from salmon farming pioneer Clive Barker for restrictions on the farming and sale of trout to be lifted.

Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust Project Manager Tiwana Tibble says the trust’s Tūwharetoa owners are looking closely at the debate, as their lake could be suitable for aquaculture.

He says an attempt to allow trout farming in the 1970s was thwarted when fish and game lobby campaigned against then-minister Duncan McIntyre, costing him his Hawke’s Bay seat, but the success of the salmon industry shows what can be done.

“Down in Twizel they’ve got farms at altitude there and they’ve got these whopping trout, because they feed off the food missed by salmon in the pens. That’s a great example 40 years later where trout farming and recreational fishing can go hand in hand. We’ve got to come forward modern,” Mr Tibble says.

Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust is pushing forward with plans to farm salmon in its waters.

This was eventually followed up by TRM’s blogs below:

June 10, 2019

Trout farming? Arguments for & against…

Trout farming at Lake Rotoaira? 

To illustrate the extremely unfortunate racist hysteria that this topic of trout farming attracts….  In 2018 TRM posted on Facebook a press release from Fish & Game in respect of proposed amendments to the Act. According to F&G legal advisor, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the amendment could allow trout farming in NZ. This press release sparked considerable unfortunate personal abuse and threats from local interests.

I received personal threats for posting the F&G press release. They claimed that they had been watching me for some time and that I was anti-iwi and anti-Tuwharetoa (the local tribe). TRM’s response was to advise the TRM facebook for anglers is not the place for such racist BS and they were banned from TRM facebook. This ban generated more abuse.

That small incident indicates the simmering emotions over this trout farming issue. Taupo and Tongariro anglers cannot afford to be complacent – otherwise, it will sneak through – refer to the article in Fishing & Outdoors newspaper – June issue – page 9 – headed “Forest Trust want trout farming at Lake Rotoaira”. Taupo Fishery Managers, aka Department of Conservation, should lead the objections but, so far, (?) their silence is deafening.

To try to provide a balance, below are the two sides of the argument. Firstly from Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust “spokesperson” are their plans for trout (and salmon!) to be farmed on Lake Rotoaira. That is followed by the Nelson Fishing Club providing ten reasons against the proposal. (Note the lack of any comment from local fishing clubs? Why is DOC not objecting? Where are the Advocates for the Tongariro River? Are the Federation of Freshwater Anglers the only anglers’ organisation concerned about this proposal setting a precedent)

Following from Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust:

Globally, aquaculture is rapidly becoming a critical source of high-quality protein food and New Zealand needs to put some serious effort into catching up with the rest of the world, writes Tiwana Tibble from the Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust, who is pushing for a legislation change to remove the prohibition on trout farming in New Zealand.

As wild capture fishing resources become more depleted, aquaculture is growing rapidly around the world.

Aquaculture now equals wild capture fishing in the tonnage of fish consumed and will continue to grow at a very fast rate because the demand is there, and the growing world population needs food.

And yet, New Zealand is in slow motion as far as this new and exciting industry is concerned.

We are being let down by our government agencies such as the Ministry of Primary Industries. They have become more urban focused than rural.

What the Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust is proposing is having trout and salmon farmed in tanks with operations using the latest in international technology, meaning high value protein products are produced using a very small footprint.

The plan is for an aquaculture operation in the foothills of Mount Tongariro alongside a horticulture operation that uses the waste from the aquaculture operation as nutrient. The trust is looking at a range of potential crops.

We have a strong balance sheet and a plan to diversify our asset base, so we have the capacity to back up our plans.

Freshwater aquaculture opens opportunities to create jobs for our people and for all people within our rural district.

What is standing in our way is an antiquated piece of legislation that ensures New Zealand’s trout resource is kept exclusively for a select small group of people.

New Zealand is the only country in the world that prevents trout farming alongside recreational angling.

In my opinion, the lobby group Fish & Game will oppose a lifting of the prohibition because it is that organisation’s mandate to keep that resource as a monopoly just for the dwindling group of freshwater recreational anglers.

What Fish & Game has told us is their focus is on urban liberals who, in their eyes, have more political power than rural conservatives.

So, in my opinion, they are going after water quality as an issue because that appeals to urban liberals and their thinking is it will lead on to their being able to keep the trout resource to themselves.

I am not sure urban liberals will be that gullible.

The irony is if they did support the Fish & Game stance they would be throwing their political weight behind a group focused on killing animals for sport – hardly a fit with urban liberals.

If we ask urban dwellers whether they would rather have jobs in rural areas or trout fishermen having the exclusive right to fish, I think more would see the sense of having a balanced rural/urban economy and healthy communities where people can have jobs and live where they choose instead of being driven into cities.

I see opportunities for farmers to diversify into aquaculture. It is a farming operation like any other.

It is about having good quality stock, a clean environment for them to grow in, good quality feed, care for the health of that stock, and then presentation to markets in forms those markets want.

My focus is on creating asset diversification for the trust; however, it is my hope that a thriving collaborative industry develops similar in nature to how the wine industry works together.

Whatever tonnage New Zealand aquaculture can produce isn’t going to make a dent in the international demand for fish products so there is an opportunity to create an industry that works together to carve niches in world markets.

Before anything can happen though we need the prohibition lifted and a government and government agencies that clearly get behind freshwater and marine aquaculture.

Response from Nelson Fishing Club

copied from “The Country”

Comment: David Haynes responds to Tiwana Tibble from the Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust about pushing for a legislation change to remove the prohibition on trout farming in New Zealand.

Tiwana Tibble’s article “Why farmers should be allowed to dive into aquaculture” is founded on the notion that the answer to the depletion of our wild sea fisheries by voracious commercial practices is farming fish, specifically trout.

Here are 10 reasons why it’s not a good idea:

Feedstock

Wild sea fish are processed into pellets for feeding farmed fish. So, rather than reducing pressure on our depleted marine ecosystem, it actually increases it. The alternative feedstock is equally unappetising, as you will read below.

Marginal economics

The high capital of establishing infrastructure – pipes, pumps, filters, tanks, refrigeration, treatment, monitoring and control systems, pushes return on investment out decades. Ongoing costs of food, energy and wages tend towards a marginal business where only the mega-aquaculture operations survive. Do we want mega-fish factories?

Plague and disease

Intensively rearing fish creates three adverse effects: a homogeneous gene pool, fish stress and reduced water quality. The Ministry for Primary Industries has identified 36 different pathogens in fish farms across eleven countries. There is no disease-free fish farming country in the world. Animal welfare and consumer trust are unfortunate casualties in fish farming.

Gene dilution

Fish farms use a few breeding fish (broodstock) to provide milt and eggs from which the fish farm stock is generated. Thus genetic variation in the fish is reduced. As broodstock grow old, they are replaced by young farmed fish, hence genetic diversity (and resilience) is further weakened. If these fish escape this gene weakness is then introduced into our wild fish stocks, reducing their resilience and sustainability.

Commoditisation

Once trout have a saleable value there is the risk, exactly as for recreationally gathered seafood and whitebait, that scumbags will poach trout and establish a black market for personal gain. Trout are most vulnerable to poaching when they gather to spawn, hence both fish stocks and fragile spawning grounds can be severely damaged.

Poor quality product

Garbage in, garbage out – the old computing maxim – is equally applicable to fish farms. Farmed fish is nutritionally inferior to wild fish – bland, flabby and lower in Omega-3. More so when farmers use cheaper feed comprising ground-up feathers, abattoir waste, bean meal, canola oil, chicken fat and xanthins (to provide that orange flesh colour).

Environmental pollution

Intensively reared fish in tanks produce an equally intensive amount of faecal waste, ammonia, nitrites and carbon dioxide. This combines with mortalities (up to 30 per cent in salmon farms) and uneaten food and, unless micro-filtered, will end up in our waterways. Commercial fish farms here and worldwide add chemicals, such as growth hormones including testosterone, antibiotics and fungicides which also end up in our rivers and seas.

Terrible trade-offs

Some pollution can be mitigated using recirculatory fish farming systems, where the same water is filtered and recirculated back into fish holding tanks, but only solids can be filtered out and so high concentrations of ammonia, nitrites, carbon dioxide and other solubles will still enter the freshwater system. But, these systems also increase the risk of diseases such as whirling disease, fin rot, gill rot, furunculosis, parasites and viruses – and yes, they also end up in our river and lake.

If it ain’t broken …

The Taupō trout fishery, for example, generates $93M per annum and fishing licence income for DOC and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. It provides social, recreational, health benefits for 6000 anglers every year and kai for locals and visitors alike. The wild Taupō trout is a free range, organic, healthy and nutrient dense food source for all New Zealand trout anglers, their friends and whanau. This cultural heritage has afforded New Zealand a wonderful resource since trout were first introduced into the Taupō system in 1887.

The many or the few?

Do we really want to risk our pristine environment, the enjoyment and rewards gained by thousands of New Zealanders?

Another blog followed on September 13, 2022

Trout Farming issues?

DOC’s response to trout farming questions:

Following several requests from TRM anglers concerned about trout farming proposed on Lake Rotoaira, where a new company, “Tongariro Salmon & Trout” has now been registered, TRM emailed DOC with key questions…

1 What DOC have done to replace it to protect the trout fishery?  

2 Is trout farming now inevitable?

3 In DOC’s opinion, is lake based trout farming viable?

The recent escape of thousands of salmon into the canals at Twizel generating a fishing frenzy, plus salmon dying at a Dunedin fish farm (full stories below) – compounded anglers’ concerns.

The following images are from TRM library to show a trout farm operation in UK.

The anglers’ concerns stem from fears of disease affecting the wild trout fishery in the Tongariro River and beyond into Lake Taupo.

Thank you to DOC’s Peter Shepherd (Senior Ranger Supervisor- Community) for his reply.

Morning Ross,

Just following up on your email request from last week. In answer to your queries please see the Department of Conservation’s response-

1        Can you advise if the CIPO has lapsed and/or what DOC have done to replace it to protect the trout fishery?  

The 2015 CIPO has been replaced by a new order effective 10 September 2018. It can be found herehttp://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2018/0165/latest/096be8ed817c72c0.pdf

2        Is trout farming now inevitable?

The department does not hold a view regarding this question.

However, the current legal framework preventing the farming of trout remains in place. These mechanisms are;

                • Part 5B of the Conservation Act 1987, in particular – section 26ZQ, which prohibits the sale (including barter or offering for sale) of wild trout caught in New Zealand, and

                 – section 26ZI(4), which bans the commercial farming of trout.

                • Section 301(a) of the Fisheries Act 1996, which does not allow the making of regulations allowing licensing of fish farms for the rearing and breeding of trout for sale.

                • A January 2018 Gazette notice made under the Freshwater Fish Farming Regulations 1983 lists those species that may be farmed and the list does not include trout.

                • 2018 Customs Import Prohibition (Trout) Order which prohibits the importation of trout (alive or dead) and trout products, unless in quantities under 10 kilograms not intended for sale, except with the consent of the Minister of Conservation and subject to such conditions as may be imposed that are not inconsistent with the import prohibition.

3        In DOC’s opinion, is lake based trout farming viable?

The department does not hold an opinion with respect to the “viability’ of lake based trout farming. The department supports the current CIPO, and has submitted recently to the Primary Production Select Committee detailing concerns currently held with respect to the potential for negative impacts from trout farming on recreational fishing interests, in the event trout farming was legalised. This submission can be found here https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/submissions-and-advice/document/52SCPP_EVI_78216_PP2509/department-of-conservation

Kind regards

Peter Shepherd
Senior Ranger Supervisor- Community
Department of Conservation – Te Papa Atawhai
DDI: 0274995516 | VPN: 7414 
Taupō District Office
37 Motutaiko St, Taupō 3330 | PO Box 528, Taupō 3351
Conservation for prosperity Tiakina te taiao, kia puawai
www.doc.govt.nz

From NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers

Trout Farming Rears its Ugly Head at Taupo

The spectre of trout farming has reared up from the murky shadows of the previous National government’s treaty deals. Māori owners of Lake Rotoaira near Turangi are reported to be backing an attempt to allow trout farming.
Retiring president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers Graham Carter said at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting in Wellington in mid-May, that while it was not unexpected it was absolute folly.
“It is not a great idea to put at risk and potentially wreck New Zealand’s annual one billion dollar ($1,000,000,000) recreational and tourism trout fishing industry,” he said.
Referring to it being not unexpected, he added, “Well that was predictable given the terms of National’s treaty minister Chris Finlayson’s parting treaty deal with Tuwharetoa. When he effectively designated introduced trout as customary Taonga, and gifted Tuwharetoa use of the Taupo trout hatchery, we said at the time that trout farming was the hidden agenda.”
In addition, Parliament’s primary production committee was currently considering a petition from salmon farming pioneer Clive Barker for restrictions on the farming and sale of trout to be lifted. Mr Barker began a salmon farming based on “ocean ranching” in Golden Bay but it failed.
That petition has been vigorously opposed by the Federation of Freshwater Anglers, who have put a submission to the Select Committee outlining the effects and damage disease from trout farming has caused in other countries, the poor quality of the farmed trout, black market development once trout are commercialised, poor economics with trout farming, use of public water, organic polluted effluent and many other environmental risks.
Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust Tuwharetoa owners were looking closely at the debate, arguing their lake could be suitable for aquaculture.
“But the Trust is only looking at potential profits and ignoring the huge risks posed to both their own and other fisheries,” said Graham Carter (representing NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers).
He said an attempt to allow trout farming in the 1970’s was thwarted when a strong trout angler’s lobby campaigned against then – minister Duncan McIntyre and other National MPs pushing for trout farming. Labour, led by Norman Kirk, strongly opposed trout farming and in a landslide victory became government. Newspaper editorials identified Save Manapouri and trout farming as major factors in National’s defeat.
Tony Orman who was in the front line of the 1972 trout anglers’ lobby said scientific evidence from overseas on fish farming warned that trout farming was capital intensive, high risk and of doubtful marginal economics.”
“Nothing has changed; it still requires huge capital, is huge disease risk and has doubtful economic justification.”
In addition trout from farms are invariably very poor quality, insipid, pale and wrinkled. He said he had recently seen farmed trout in Australian shops.
“They were pathetic specimens,” he added.
Graham Carter said the repetitive failings of the salmon farming industry both in New Zealand and world-wide had shown that successive governments would allow anything to try to support the economy with even uneconomic proposals while putting at risk recreational and environment values and the trout tourism industry. Even salmon farming, which is arguably more economic than trout farming, is under huge pressure around the world because of the downstream environmental effects such intensive production farming have and are causing.
“Using the ‘down in Twizel’ argument where they’ve got salmon farms at altitude in the canals, and they’ve got large trout which feed off the salmon food is a very poor example,” he said. “It doesn’t stack up. Those large trout are predatory cannibals that consume a huge amount of other trout and salmon to reach that size. This proposal for Rotoaira clearly lacks a researched business case and reflects the commercial immaturity of the proposers’ minister.

From NZ Herald – The Country

Why there will not be trout farming in New Zealand

Periodically someone proposes trout farming in New Zealand.

The arguments are always the same, and fail to take into account the political and commercial implications of trout farming.

Trout farming motivates a very committed and large voting block of New Zealand anglers.

With 200,000 plus license holders they are powerful block that vote on a single issue and can alter elections.

This means there is a serious impediment to getting ministerial approval for a law change, let alone getting it through Cabinet or Parliament.

A minister knows that they will lose every trout angler’s vote if they permit trout farming.

• Comment: Why farmers should be allowed to dive into aquaculture

They will likely face a well-funded and aggressive campaign in their electorate and against their party.

They do a raw political calculation. “Do I put my career at risk by allowing trout farming?”

Trout fishermen include many very wealthy people who are very clear that they will spend any amount of money necessary to prevent it.

Contrast this to potential farmed trout customers. Being able to buy trout is not an issue that turns out voters. It is not an issue that finds people willing to commit cash to campaigns.

Those seeking a law change to allow trout farming face another problem.

Commercially trout farming is not particularly lucrative, so any decision to invest in attempting to change the law needs to be balanced with the cost of changing the law and the potential profits from trout farming.

A long and involved legal process fighting to gain trout farming licenses will be extremely expensive.

A multi-year lobbying project, and ongoing court cases with angler groups who will take decisions through to the Supreme Court, will burn vast amounts of cash for an uncertain result.

Investors in potential trout farms need to consider whether this expensive fight is going to return value to their shareholders or trust members.

They run the risk of burning cash that could have been invested profitably elsewhere, and being held accountable for the predictable losses incurred through trout farming.

Anyone considering law changes to permit trout farming needs to do a thorough risk analysis of the political environment.

When they have completed that they need to do an even more thorough analysis on their own position if they invest other people’s money in trout farming and then fail to gain licenses.

Both these factors suggest that trout farming will not be happening in New Zealand any time soon.

– Simon Lusk is a committed fly fisherman from Hawke’s Bay.

Anglers swarm to Twizel after 2000 salmon escape commercial farm

• 15/06/2019 Dave Gosselin

Anglers flocked to the area for a chance at catching the big one. (Credits: Newshub.)

Anglers from across the South Island have made a beeline to Twizel after more than 2,000 salmon escaped from a commercial farm.

The fish poured into a canal near the Ohau C hydro station and even a cold, foggy morning couldn’t deter anglers from packing the banks on Saturday morning.

• Southern Hemisphere salmon come back from near extinction
• Aquaculture companies challenged as climate change kills fish
• Thousands of dollars lost as salmon make slippery getaway

“Yeah supposedly 2,000 escaped, so might as well come down and see if we can get a feed,” said Christchurch angler Shaun Breen.

Anglers flocked to Mackenzie Country from Canterbury to Southland.

“Oh would have been about 12 in the morning I’d say,” said Sam Radovonich from Christchurch. “It’s all worth it though”.

“We usually don’t catch anything here. So this time we’re likely to catch something,” said another keen angler.

It’s believed the salmon – due for harvest later this year – escaped from Mt Cook Alpine Salmon. But the company isn’t saying how they got out.

Fish & Game rangers were out checking licenses and ensuring the hundreds of anglers kept to the size and bag limits.

“So they raise salmon for sale, for the dinner plate. And once in a while they get out, and our anglers get to have a crack at them,” said Fish & Game Ranger Jayde Couper.

Anyone who breaks the rules can face fines and having their licenses revoked. Fish and Game says its about giving everyone a fair go.

“We have issues when people are this tight together. Lots of people catching each other’s hooks,” said Couper.

Some caught their first freshwater fish.

“It’s pretty good. Bit small but it’ll be alright,” said Dean Archibald as he held up his catch.

Almost everyone left happy, with a good serving for the dinner plate.

“Pretty stoked to be honest, like it’s beautiful fish. What can I say?” said Stephen Raika.

Officers say people will never have an easier catch, provided they’re fishing by the rules

Newshub

Trout farming ban continuation welcomed

The Government’s decision to reject commercial trout farming is a responsible move and will come as welcome news to the 150,000 freshwater anglers throughout the country, says Fish & Game New Zealand.

A recently released Government response to the Primary Production Committee has declined to review the legislation that prohibits trout farming, citing that there is no analysis on the benefits of farming trout or what risks it presents to the wild fishery.

New Zealand Fish and Game Council Chair Ray Grubb says he is encouraged that the Government has given serious consideration to the adverse impact on the recreational fishery that trout farming poses.

“Trout fishing is a highly valued recreation for so many New Zealanders, with family traditions stretching back generations, and is also of significant economic value to the country. New Zealand is widely recognised as the premier trout fishing destination in the world, something the country can genuinely be proud of,” Mr Grubb says.

“During Covid restrictions and in the absence of international anglers, we’ve seen a significant increase in Kiwis buying angling licences and travelling around their own country fishing for trout.

They contribute millions to the regions when accommodation and service providers are struggling and desperately need the income.

“It makes no sense putting at risk the recreational fishery, and all it contributes to the economy and people’s wellbeing, as well as our international image, for questionable gains from commercial speculators.”

Fish & Game is funded solely from the sale of licences to recreational anglers and hunters; it is the lead organisation fighting for water quality, clean rivers and lakes, and wetland habitat to the benefit of all New Zealanders, and both native and valued introduced species.

Mr Grubb says the move to reject trout farming is a responsible decision by the Government.

Commercialisation would be inconsistent with the good work currently being undertaken on freshwater management and policy.

“Trout are an iconic clean water species and a healthy wild population in New Zealand is an ideal and important fit with our international brand.”

Internationally, commercial trout and salmon farming has had disastrous impacts on wild populations, introducing disease and causing majority environmental degradation as well as contributing to poaching for the black market.

Currently, wild trout and salmon cannot be bought or sold in New Zealand and it remains illegal to farm trout.