FINES FOR FISHING FAULTS

Taupo Times, Volume V, Issue 208, 27 January 1956, Page 7

FINES FOR FISHING FAULTS

According to information compiled by the Department of Internal Affairs, ignorance or disregard of the fishing regulations at Taupo, Rotorua and the Southern Lakes last year led to fishermen being fined a total of £770. Two thirds of the sum might have been saved, the Department thinks, had fishermen studied the regulations. But £200 of the total represented fines for fishing without licences or with the wrong licences. At Taupo over £100 was netted from anglers

offending in this way, at Rotorua £75. The poaching of fish at Taupo resulted in fines- totalling £26, but at Rotorua nearly six times that amount came from fines for this offence. Many other prosecutions, the Department believes, resulted from ignorance of the regulations, particularly those relating to illegal equip- . ment. Such cases involved using a gaff to land fish, which has been prohibited for some years, using spoonbaits with more than a single hook, or using a bait other than a artificial fly in restricted areas. Some experienced anglers have further suggested that, on rare occasions admittedly, fines have resulted from "red tape." Such a possibility was indicated in a fishing prosecution initiated by the Department for fishing without a licence. The "offender" was an angler of unimpeachable integrity. Hehadplanned a three day trip on the lake and taken out the requisite licence. Bad weather on the first day caused the start of the trip, mainly a sight-see-ing one, to be postponed a day. On the third day of the trip the angler fished for about ten minutes, quite forgetting that owing to the postponement of the trip the licence intended for that day had expired. Later in the day the angler and his companion met a ranger, and, in course of conversation, referred to having fished for the short time mentioned without any luck. The ranger asked for the licence and the unfortunate position was realised. Although the circumstances were only disclosed by the freely rnade a4mission of the angler, and were obviously due to an oversight, the prosecution was taken. The unforturiate angler pleaded guilty, although the circumstances were such that that course might, in the opinion of many fishermen, have been regarded as showing an unduly excessive degree of honesty.