Iwi scotches trout farming rumours

The children's fishing pond at the Tongariro National Trout Centre. Photo / File

Central North Island iwi Ngati Tuwharetoa has no plans to introduce commercial trout farming and "ill-informed speculation" is causing unnecessary alarm, it says.

The idea to use trout from Tongariro National Trout Centre near Turangi, which would otherwise be turned into fertiliser when the hatchery ponds were periodically cleaned out, is signalled in an agreement of principle Ngati Tuwharetoa signed with the Crown and released to the public in March.

The Tuwharetoa Hapu Forum, which is negotiating the iwi's Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the Crown, said the agreement was clear that commercial fish farming was not planned. A spokesman said negotiations were at an early stage and nothing was finalised.

With regard to Fish & Game New Zealand's concerns about the importation of trout from overseas, the spokesman said Tuwharetoa understood the damage that could be caused by the introduction of foreign species to Lake Taupo.

Trout devastated native fish species after being introduced to the area in the late 1800s and have replaced native species as food for Tuwharetoa marae around Lake Taupo.

The Tuwharetoa Hapu Forum said the proposal to raise and harvest trout at the trout centre was seen as a way of getting trout to the marae table when there were tangi or other significant tribal events and take pressure off the wider Lake Taupo fishery.

Marae already have the right to fish for trout for such events.

In the past the rivers and lakes of the Ngati Tuwharetoa rohe provided native fish species including koaro, inanga, kokopu and koura, all delicacies the iwi was famous for.

The cultural redress proposed in the agreement in principle is for the iwi to have the use of a raceway at the Tongariro National Trout Centre and any other facilities not needed by the Department of Conservation (DoC) to raise trout for "significant Ngati Tuwharetoa hui, tangi and other occasions". Angling groups criticised the idea when they became aware of it.

Although the agreement in principle has been publicly available since March, Fish & Game said it had not been consulted and this was the first it had heard of the idea.

Its chief executive, Bryce Johnson, said trout were not included under the Treaty of Waitangi, so there was no legal basis for the proposal. He questioned the Office of Treaty Settlements' authority to even make such an offer.

"The Crown has little to do with trout and it is politically inflammatory to use them to settle its treaty obligations. Anglers brought trout to this country, not the Government, and generations of anglers have protected, managed and nurtured sports fish, paying for them from their own pockets," Mr Johnson said.

"Fish & Game and recreational anglers are justifiably worried this is the thin end of the wedge to try and open the door to trout farming. The present law is that trout are not a commercial species and trout farming is specifically prohibited. That is the way it should stay."

New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers said the proposal "set a dangerous move" and would endanger New Zealand's world-famous wild trout fisheries.