Whitebait: Little Beauties
It’s hard to believe people could get excited about catching a fish five millimetres long, but that’s the case in New Zealand’s whitebait season. Whitebait are a sought-after delicacy, selling for more than $NZ100kg. They are tiny, almost transparent fish that are caught in a net or screen. New Zealand whitebait are primarily the young of three species: inanga (Galaxias maculatus), koaro (G. brevipinnis) and banded kokopu (G. fasciatus), with inanga the most commonly caught species. Special sizes and conditions apply to the type of net used to catch whitebait, with the mouth of nets not permitted to be larger than 4.5 metres; nor have framing material wider than 120mm; or be longer than 3.5m. There are other strict regulations applying to whitebait fishing to help conserve numbers of this native fish, and breaching regulations can result in fines of $NZ5000. Whitebait is delicious in fritters or dipped in eggs and fried. The whitebaiting season runs between August 15 and November 30, but the season and regulations differ for the West Coast area of the South Island. Regulations for that area can be obtained from the Department Of Conservation.
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