Harper Diversion Fish Salvage 2024

Last week, the collaborative efforts of the North Canterbury Fish & Game team, alongside colleagues from Hawkes Bay and Otago, successfully concluded a vital fish salvage operation in the pristine High Country of North Canterbury. This mission served as an excellent opportunity for the recently trained personnel from Otago and Hawkes Bay, who had just completed NIWA's electric fishing course, to gain hands-on field experience.
The decision to undertake this salvage mission was prompted by the temporary closure of the Harper Diversion for maintenance by Manua Energy. With the support of Manua Energy, the Fish and Game team orchestrated the first salvage operation at Harper in over a decade. Despite facing challenging conditions, our dedicated team adeptly navigated through, successfully salvaging numerous fish amidst the swiftly receding water levels.
This salvage operation uncovered invaluable insights into the diverse native fish population of the region, proving to be of immense value. Notably, a robust presence of sport fish, predominantly rainbow trout, were observed. Following precise measurements, all fish were safely released into Lake Coleridge.

[@user-sx9qq2tr1t]

I was there when they re-opened the Harper Canal, I just wish the power company would've let us guys on the lake edge know that they were re-opening the canal! We were soooo lucky to not get caught on the wrong side of the water.

[@jeremytaylor3093]

Gosh really interesting and definitely the makings of a research study. Would be great to see the learnings taken from this process typed up for wider dissemination. Perhaps even an opportunity for some reflection on how the process could be improved in the future.

[@jase4270]

The idea of needing a licence to fish in freshwater is ridiculous. I will never pay to fish in the river and i never have maybe one day i will get caught but they ain't getting my money . Try and catch me i bet yaz can't. Happy fishing suckers.