Evidence of Martin Unwin - Environment Canterbury

188.2 The distribution of Chinook salmon spawning sites in New Zealandreflects their tendency to be highly selective in their choice ofspawning habitat. All sites used by Chinook salmon are also used bybrown trout, but – whereas brown trout are ubiquitous – Chinook arerestricted to a few well defined and generally localised sites. In 2006 Iprepared a report for Environment Canterbury in which I reviewed anearlier inventory of salmonid spawning sites in the Canterbury Region,and re-evaluated all sites with respect to their importance for Chinooksalmon (Unwin 2006).8.3 For the Hurunui River my review identified three sites of regionalimportance: Landslip Stream, a North Branch tributary above LakeSumner; Homestead Stream, a South Branch tributary; and the SouthBranch above the North Esk confluence (Figure 2). The main stem ofthe Hurunui North Branch above Lake Sumner was identified as locallyimportant. The lower rating for the Hurunui North Branch reflected therelative usage of the two main branches by spawning fish, with theSouth Branch generally accounting for a higher and more consistentproportion of the total than the North Branch.8.4 For the Waiau River my review identified three sites of localimportance, all in the upper 30 km of the headwaters above the HenryRiver confluence (Figure 2). These sites were the middle reaches ofthe Henry River; the Waiau mainstem above the Ada Riverconfluence; and a small marginal stream opposite the stream drainingLake Guyon, and known locally as Matagouri Point Stream. Theirassessment as locally important reflects the relatively low value of theWaiau River for salmon angling.Salmon Angling8.5 New Zealand’s Chinook salmon fishery is essentially contained withinthe Canterbury province, from the Waiau River in the north to theWaitaki River in the south (Deans et al. 2004). Within this region thefishery is dominated by four rivers (Waimakariri, Rakaia, Rangitata,SJE-388879-28-627-V1:axm