Opinion by Tony Orman
Currently Fisheries NZ has a discussion document open for public submissions, in which it is proposed to list perch as a “pest fish” – contrary to the current legal status of perch as a “sporting fish.”
Over the years there has been an on-going periodic moves to list perch as “pests.”
I recall a couple of years ago I sat in a meeting where a draft Regional Pest Management Strategy was presented by some Marlborough District Council officers.
It was almost bizarre- perhaps it was. For instance listed as a major threat was the wallaby. Now wallabies don’t exist in Marlborough. But there it was- a major pest threat.
“Oh they could be if they got here,” was the response.
Yes the same might be said of rhinoceros, hippopotamus or cougars.
It lends strong weight to the growing public opinion that New Zealand’s governments-central and local – have been and still are in the grip of a “pest phobia.” But what caught my eye in the Marlborough District Council pest document under “noxious fish” was perch. I checked with Nelson-Marlborough Fish and Game.
“Closest perch populations to Marlborough are West Coast,” came the reply.
There are no perch in Marlborough or Nelson.
Besides perch were and are regarded as a sporting fish, an acclimatised fish under the jurisdiction of Fish and Game.
Ignorant Bureaucrats
To place perch in a “noxious fish” category is ignorant and reinforces the “pest phobia” suspicion.
Problem is the “pest phobia” activity gives rise to mis-spending of public money and a raft of bureaucrats all for a totally unjustified purpose.
My first steps as an angler in the 1950s were on perch. They were in the Mangaone River that in those days flowed on the western side of Palmerston North and into the Manawatu River near Longburn. Today the curving course of the Mangaone of the 1950s is gone, destroyed by urban sprawl and straightening and channelising the once magical stream into a sterile ditch.
In the 1950s, my father and I used minnows, which we swung out on greenheart fly rods. Sometimes we used worms. The perch were mostly small but I did catch two or three monsters of 1.5 kgs and more. Those big perch were usually solitary or in pairs, the smaller in shoals.
The minnows we used were names not found in sport shops today. The Green Willesenden was a favourite but we also made minnow bodies from butterfly chrysalis hanging from tree branches.
Mr Crabtree
As a boy I had a book written by a UK angling guru called Bernard Venables. In his book set out with text and “comic book” styled sequences of drawings, a Mr Crabtree was shown teaching youngsters how to fish for UK species such as tench, pike, chub and others that included perch. Theart work was by Bernard Venables himself. The color paintings were great, so skilfully done, and I would gaze for long periods admiring the perch one, because those were the fish I angled for in the Mangaone.,
The perch is a handsome splendidly coloured fish, with a defiant, pugnacious air about it.The bottom edge of the caudal fin is bright red-orange, as are the anal and pectoral fins. Several dark bands run down their sides. These features make perch easy to recognize.
Like myself, many a boy was set upon the road to becoming a lifelong angler by catching a perch.
From Tasmania
New Zealand perch were imported in the late 19th century, from Tasmanian stocks that before that came from England. They became well established in Otago and Southland, but also occur in many other parts of New Zealand, such as around Auckland, the Waikato and in west coast coastal lakes south of Taranaki, South Island’s West Coast, Canterbury, Southland and other places..
I’ve caught them in the Manawatu River, in ox-bow lagoons of the lower Manawatu such as south of Longburn, in the Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay, Otago and Canterbury. I’ve caught them in the better trout rivers such as the Pomohaka, Manawatu, Ruamahunga, lower Taieri and one or two others.
Perch have firm white flesh, that is sweet eating. Perch are ideal sports fish for youngsters because they are relatively easy to catch. Most perch in New Zealand are about 1 kg in weight, but not infrequently bigger.
Perch prefer slow-flowing and still-water habitats.
Perch No Pest
Are perch damaging to trout fisheries? I doubt it. When I fished the Manawatu as a kid, perch were in the Manawatu and the Manawatu was chocker with trout, with incredible evening rises. And the Ruamahunga and Pomohaka where I’ve caught perch, were when I fished them, excellent trout rivers. The best evening rise I ever experienced anywhere, was on the Ruamahunga, near Gladstone.
Many years ago somewhere about 1950, in response to angler claims that perch in Lake Maherangi, Otago, were eating trout, a study was done to examine the relationship. That became plural, i.e. relationships as shags entered the equation.
Basically the findings were:-
- Shags fed on perch particularly perch fry, tending to divert the birds away from trout.
- Trout fed heavily on perch fry. Perch lay eggs in massive clusters on underwater debris and thousands of fry hatch.
- Perch did occasionally prey on young trout.
In a few words, overall trout benefited from a co-existence with perch.
Nonsensical
In 2016 the authors of an Otago University “study” described perch as “invasive,” arguing they preyed on native fish such as whitebait. Now to me, that is absolute nonsense. Remember perch were introduced back in 1870. So they’ve had almost 150 years to evolve into the ecosystem and food chains, just as European humans and their associated sheep, cattle, potatoes and pumpkins, blackbirds and bumblebees have.
In a few words, it’s now an evolved 21st century ecosystem.
Perch here for almost 150 years can hardly be classed as invasive now. But beware terms like “invasive species”, “predators” and “pests” are buzz words in some academic circles and certainly in the bowels of bureaucracy where often empires are spawned and jobs created around the “pest-predator” myths.
I don’t know whether Fish and Game NZ and in particular the Nelson-Marlborough Fish and Game objected to the Marlborough District Council’s classification of perch as a “pest fish”. They should have. I would be disappointed if they didn’t!
Youngsters
You see the perch is a great little sports fish and as stated earlier, especially for youngsters. Species like perch may become very important in the face of dwindling flows in rivers and warmer temperatures with the climate cycle.
In the broader picture, it seems so misplaced that Fisheries NZ is dabbling into areas of ignorance and prejudice based on a “pest phobia”, when the New Zealand saltwater fishery is in a mess, riddled with the market force driven quota management system, (QMS) and it’s consequences of an industry plagued by corporate company domination, political party donations, fish dumping, poor surveillance of commercial boats (camera issue) and a ministry and succession of fisheries ministers beholden to the commercial corporate fishing industry. The end result is over-fished stocks.
Blue Cod Bungling
Here in Marlborough the Marlborough Sounds blue cod resource has undergone bureaucratic bungling, poor methodology in the “science”, ludicrous laws (slot rule) that destroyed tens of thousands of blue cod breeding females, discrimination against the recreational public and after seven years of undue harsh measures on recreational fishers, an almost complete lack of scientific research to ascertain management fundamentals as it where and when blue cod spawn.
Meanwhile the NZ consumer pays $60 a kg for blue cod on Blenheim supermarket shelves.
Other species are struggling with examples being severely depleted kahawai and tarakihi stocks while Fisheries NZ looks away and wants to set up species such as perch as a pest.
It is a case of “Nero fiddles while Rome burns.”
Fisheries NZ should be using its meagre talents to focus on much needed review of the QMS, shedding the shackles of corporate domination, reordering its priorities to where the urgent needs are and bringing sea fish to the consumer at an affordable price.
Footnote:The ministry’s proposal can be seen here.
The mention of perch brings back pleasant boyhood memories in the Wairarapa.
A wonderful sporting fish. Excellent eating once you picked your way around the few bones. They have a delicate delicious flavour.
My reaction to call perch a ‘pest fish’ is not pleasant. Words fail me!
What goes through these public servants minds with their ignorance and stupidity?
I agree with leaving the situation as it is for perch. I did hear they can affect trout.
Trout fishing in Lake Ototoa (near Helensville) declined when perch were slipped in illegally some years ago. The only solution was to stock sizeable specimens to prevent perch predation. I don’t know if F & G did that.
It seems to me everything that has been introduced is these days classified as a pest even though many of them are of great benefit.
A wonderful fish. Have a look at this u tube.
Pest? The only pests are bureaucrats in the ministry.
For some reason the link to a u tube was left off
As a nine year old boy living in England I first started fishing for Perch in a small lake just outside of Canterbury in Kent, that where my journey started and continues to this present day. Perch are an excellent fish for young potential anglers to start off their journey, by removing them from our fisheries would be a lost opportunity to all New Zealand youngsters. regards Malcolm Francis
The current situation, created by a group of underemployed bureaucrats, beggers belief. Let us hope that someone points out to them that the perch belong to the crown and are allocated to Fish and Game’s care with responsibilities that include enhancing the fishery.
Rex N. Gibson
As a youngster growing up in Hamilton during the 1950s, every spare moment was spent at Hamilton Lake fishing for redfin perch. For me they were the closest I could get to fishing for large mouth bass. They provided me and my mates the opportunity to learn about live bait fishing, spin fishing and fly fishing. Perch kept us out of trouble and off the streets. My mate and I are probably responsible for perch being introduced to many of the waters north of Hamilton. During a fishing trip, we met Stewart Smith whose car was in effect a fish liberation unit. Over several years, we caught thousands of perch for him and these found new homes in northern waters. We thought that we were doing angling a service. Perch are easily caught by kids and to make them a pest would be a waste of an existing resource. We have more important issues relating to freshwater ecosystems to put time, and money into. Cheers
I have had perch in my farm lakes for 30 yrs to great asset kids & neighbors fishing feom shore & dinghy aq great sporting & table fish.Any thoughts of pests is misguided anti exotic phobia nonsense
Bu7d JonesQSM
Wairarapa
Great sporting fish, easy for kids to catch, panfry beautifully.
One thing that does not seem to be noted on all this is that for thousands probably hundreds of thousands of years the main predators in our rivers and lakes are eels which greatly outnumber trout salmon or any other introduced fish . If it hasn’t been for the introduced fish species . native fish would be in even worse state. Note that in some places they are trying to exclude trout to protect native but are they excluding the greatest predator of freshwater – EELS, they will get into trout excluded waters very easily with their climbing ability and a 100 year old eel will have eaten many thousands of native fish.
Look after the trout. Watch changes to RMA . Sec.7 ( h ) pages 21 /22, In achieving the purpose of this ACT ,all persons shall have particular regard to the habitats of trout and salmon.
Don’t let the bureaucrats meddle with that one.
I have been catching Perch for nearly 50 yrs and would walk by a feed of Trout to enjoy a few fillets of fried perch, so the idiotic belief or idea that they are a nuisance and a pest needs to be forgotten!
I can think of a few politicians that are more of a pest than the Perch are, if any thing needs eradicating, then it is bureaucrats, not Perch!
My wife, Susie, and I have spent many a pleasant afternoon fishing for and catching perch in the southern Wairarapa waters, mostly from our old 11ft rubber duck with small outboard on still waters. The size has been small but several carefully double-filletted have produced delicious pan-fried meals, more like sea fish than freshwater.
Certainly not a pest in our view as we have caught trout in exactly the same waters.
Leave perch as a sport fish, we say, and worry about more important issues such as water quality
Iagree with everyone that has said that Perch are not a pest but are a sports fish.As a kid back in the early 60’s starting my love of flyfishing there was nothing better than catching a Perch on a flyrod after spending hours standing in Lake Camp learning my craft.My Grandfather also my teacher would stop fishing just to watch me play my Perch like it was a 10lb TROUT and pat me on the back when it was finally landed.Why take memories like this away from kids when there is so much more to worry about like how bad the water quality is ,its getting so bad not even Perch will survive .SO HOW ABOUT SPENDING WHAT LITTLE MONEY AND RESOURCES THAT IS AVAILABLE ON SOMETHING THAT REALLY MATTERS……..GET THE WATER CLEAN….so the poor old humble Perch can survive let alone the Trout.
Catching perch in lake Mahinapua on the West Coast has been among my most enjoyable experiences for myself and my children for quite some time. This population was introduced to the lake in the late 1800’s and there is still a huge number of native fish present, the adult whitebait are everywhere around the margins, huge schools of them.
I agree with the sentiment of this article, it is just another case of over zealous paper shufflers trying to justify their existence.
However, I’d also suggest that it is increasingly an ideological issue, our academic “betters” seem to have a disdain for anything not ‘native’ whether harmful or not. This encompasses everything from fish to cherry trees, I’ve even heard these things described as “symbols of colonialism” which is just ridiculous ideological clap trap as far as I am concerned. We are ruled by over educated fools.
The perch is the eurasian counterpart to the American largemouth bass(in which we don’t have in this nation). Why do we keep selecting trout as the bass’ counterpart?
New Zealand fresh waters is really lack of fishes and sub species to sustain those were introduced like trouts. Perch is a good sport fish, no doubts and it `s top eating fish, if you can cook it in other ways not just fry it. Same all shits, like they try to ban smoking, that `s only came from who do `t smoke.
Kiwi like something bigger, but there are some environmental friendly small size fishes which only can lives in fresh, cold waters but now endangered in the place where were there for xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx years. As well fresh water shrimps, not crayfish. If NZ govt can introduce these, the future generation should have plenty of fun.