Anglers' felt soles banned in rivers

JOE DAWSON
Hawke's Bay rivers opened for trout fishing this week, and with the start of the season this year come new rules designed to prevent the spread of aquatic pests such as didymo.
As of this season Fish and Game has banned the use of felt-soled waders, with a maximum $5000 fine for those found wearing the boots.
It is a move Hawke's Bay Fish and Game manager Iain Maxwell said would not be popular with anglers but was needed to keep the highly invasive didymo weed from local rivers.
Research showed live didymo cells could exist in the core of felt-soled boots for many months without treatment.
Mr Maxwell said New Zealand had a "sad history" of receiving and then spreading pests, and Fish and Game had decided to minimise any further risk posed by the use of felt-soled wading boots.
"Anglers are a highly mobile group of people and they tend to fish a range of different river catchments in a relatively short period of time," he said.
"Given this, and the fact that felt-soled wading boots are the highest risk factor in terms of the transfer of aquatic pests, we chose to act now rather than wait and hope."
The only way to treat felt-soled boots was to either freeze them solid or to soak the boots in water at 45C for 40 minutes.
"Most anglers are not geared to treat their boots to the required level if they are fishing a number of different water bodies over a short space of time."
There were plenty of good alternatives to the felt soles available, including replacing soles.
Fish and Game would be pursuing the rule and the approach to it would harden as the season progressed.
Meanwhile, Mr Maxwell said recent settled weather and good river conditions should make the season a cracker.