As an angler, hunter and an observer on rivers and in the backcountry, even around town and even in the garden, I have noticed disturbing trends of declines in many species. Examples are insects, kingfishers, shining cuckoos. In the absence of scientific studies, it’s called anecdotal.
Trout and rivers are just one part of the total ecosystem. It needs examination, thought, open minds and discussion and a will to rectify the situation. Nevertheless, there is no one silver bullet that will fix it, which frankly is why nobody has. The solution is bigger than anglers. Bigger than Fish and Game. Bigger than agriculture, bigger than towns. It needs system changes, cultural changes within government, governmental administrations and even Fish and Game, the latter with a bigger vision and stronger advocacy.
I set about writing a discussion paper for the Marlborough Freshwater Anglers Club. The more I researched and delved deeper the more I unearthed. I imagined the paper might be a thousand or so words. It ballooned out to well over 10,000. Here is just a small segment.
One should be wary in jumping to hasty conclusions. I do less trout fishing than say ten
