Evidence of Martin Unwin - Environment Canterbury

126.12 The Hurunui catchment sustains eight recognised river and lakefisheries other than the Hurunui mainstem, all but one of which (theWaitohi River) lie upstream of the Mandamus confluence (Table 6).Collectively, these waters accounted for an estimated 1 860, 1 830,and 6 370 angler-days over the three surveys, over 99% of which wasassociated with Lake Sumner and its immediate neighbours (LakesTaylor, Sheppard, Mason, and Loch Katrine). Lakes Taylor andSumner were by far the most popular of these fisheries, jointlyattracting over 5 000 angler-days in 2007/08. All five lakesexperienced a substantial increase in usage from 2001/02 to 2007/08.6.13 The North Canterbury region accounted for 87% of the effortexpended on the Hurunui River in 2007/08, with anglers from otherNew Zealand regions accounting for 9% of the total and overseasvisitors accounting for the remaining 4% (Table 7). The spatialdistribution of effort for visiting anglers is partly confounded by effortfor which the angling location is undefined, but the available datasuggest that most of this effort is expended in the upper reaches. Ofthe effort which can be assigned to a specific reach, visiting anglersaccounted for 21% of the effort on the upper reaches, compared to2.5% on the lower reaches.1994/96 - 2007/08 Surveys: Waiau River6.14 The Waiau catchment currently (2007/08) ranks as the fourth mostheavily fished catchment in the North Canterbury region, althoughgiven the broad confidence intervals for estimated annual usage it isperhaps more prudently ranked as fourth equal with the Ashley (Table8). Its popularity appears to have increased since 1994/95, when itwas a clear sixth after the Selwyn and Ashley (Table 8).6.15 The Waiau main stem accounted for 49% of effort within the Waiaucatchment in 1994/95, and 69% in 2001/02 and 2007/08 (Table 8).Most of the remaining effort was expended on the four headwater troutfisheries identified in the 1979/81 survey, i.e., the Hope, Boyle, Nina,SJE-388879-28-627-V1:axm