It seems like there is a piece of good news for Whitebaiters as they can go fishing during alert level 4, they will not be requiring a customary rights permit which is followed with the clarification of rules, the Whitebaiting season has started off for many in the country which started off on 15th August.
Fishing And Whitebaiting Level 4
The Covid-19 restrictions which kicked in on 17th August, there is confusion around the allocation for fishing in direct to delicacy. It has been told by Harry Maher who is the health safety Director at the Department of Conservation, fishing or Whitebaiting is not going to be permitted generally which is under level 4 but there is going to be an exemption of customary rights fishing for Maori.
The people who are with exemption can leave their home or their place of residence to exercise the rights which are customary by nature for food and fish gathering, the rules have also been clarified for the Unite of the Government against the web page of Covid-19 which took place over the weekend, all of the customary fishing rights as an exemption has been removed.
One of the spokespeople of DOC has confirmed the rules when it comes to fishing during level 4, the rules have been properly clarified by the official. On Sunday there was a statement which came from the Prime Minister, we got alerted on Saturday, the information which is being contained online when it comes to fighting and Whitebaiting has been confusing for many and it seems like this has been corrected and he further apologized for any kind of confusion which has been created.
There is another important detail that Whitebiaters are going to be fishing from the banks which are on rivers or the edge of the water but they cannot enter the water or it is going to be considered as criminal and this is something which everyone should be following.
It has been stated by Bill Begg who is one of the shadows Whitebaiter, he was pretty surprised by the sudden change and he stated he might go out and is going to “have a look” before Wednesday. He stated all of what he knows, all of the Whitebiaters who are seasoned were going to wait out until Wednesday before they get out there.
The government has announced some new rules for this season of Whitebaiting, it is going to cover some aspects such as set-netting, with one having a minimum fixed distance between the fishing gear which is fixed, which are 20 m in length.
