Dear Minister of Conservation,

Five years ago a Report on the Taupo Fishery was published. The Report made over 40 recommendations for the Taupo fishery to be implemented by the Department of Conservation for better and improved management of the Taupo fishery.

It became clear in the course of the review process that effective management of the Fishery needs to focus more specifically on the important contribution to the Taupō Region (and beyond) that the Taupō Fishery currently makes, and could make in the future. In essence, an overarching management goal should be focused on maximizing the full value (in the broadest – economic, social, cultural and environmental – sense of the word) that the Fishery can deliver. This goal must then be used by the Department to establish objectives and targets, set budgets, and drive progress reporting.

1. We request a copy of spreadsheet which details actions taken by DoC in the Taupo fishery?

2. What actions have DoC staff taken from the fishery review?

3. Why has DOC not been able to enact these recommendations?

4. Why is DoC not putting any information on its Taupo Conservancy Facebook page?

5. As an angler there is one other matter that needs addressing - the Taupo Area Fishery Advisory committee. Not one angler I know has any idea what they do, who they are, how they are elected/appointed and has never heard from them. Given they are frequently consulted as the entity representing anglers this is ridiculous i.e. they don’t represent anyone’s views other than their own simply because no one they are meant to represent ever hears from them. So whats going to be done about that going forward?

5a. Who are the Taupo Fisheries Angling Committee?

5b. What do they do?

5c. What is there purpose?

5d. How are the people elected?

5e. How do they communication with the public?

6. What planning and resourcing is being given to the report recommendations?

7. Why is there a lack of any coordinated marketing plan (i.e. between Council and DOC?) for the Taupo fishery?

7a. What Taupo fisheries marketing is being done?

8. What has been DOC’s response to the each of these specific recommendations on this matter over the past few years?

9. What have DOC actually done about each of the recommendations from the report?

10. The Target Taupo for 2015 came out in May 16 dated October 2015. Why did this occur?

11. Another issue that needs addressing in relation to DOC is communication, which DOC is widely recognised as being absolutely hopeless at. How do DoC propose to better communication with anglers?

12. What has DOC done in the last three years to improve licence sales?

13. Why has there been communication failures with regards resources, i.e: answering emails, maintaining a FaceBook page or sending out any regular communications to anglers?

14. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on what the National Trout Centre what has achieved?
15. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on DOC to use the Trout Centre hatchery to breed mature trout for local Maori.
16. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on the continued stocking of Lake Taupō with rainbow trout.

17. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on impact that catfish have on native koura and trout.

18. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on the negative impact that catfish have on the wider lake ecosystem?

19. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on the opportunities that DoC are taking regarding proactive steps to reduce the population of Catfish, and potentially even enable some form of commercial harvest (regulated under the Fisheries Act) 3B.1.4

20. We request copies of all emails, reports and correspondence on the role of the Trout Hatchery.

Yours faithfully,

Graham Carter