DOC is hoping you’ll share the DNA in your whitebait bucket. It’s fairly easy, you’ll find out more about the fish in your favourite whitebaiting river, and it could provide knowledge to help to make the whitebait fishery more sustainable.
Whitebait are the young of six different native fish species returning to freshwater from time spent out at sea. During the whitebait season, īnanga are the most common fish caught, making up about 85% of the total. Kōaro and banded kōkopu are likely to be 5-10% of the catch with giant and short jaw kōkopu, less than 1%. This species mix varies around the country and at different times before, during and after the regulated whitebait fishing season (1 September to 30 October).
Inanga are the easiest whitebait species to identify with their long slender shape, smaller pectoral fins, just behind their head and distinctive black mouths.
Banded kōkopu and koāro are climbers, trying to escape whitebaiter buckets. In the wild, these fish can scale near-vertical waterfalls using broad fins that have a grippy texture underneath.
Giant and shortjaw kōkopu are more difficult to tell apart. These are the rarest of the galaxiid species (found only in New Zealand and named galaxias because their skin looks like a galaxy of stars).
DOC Senior Freshwater Science Advisor Dave West says we need to increase our knowledge about how the composition of whitebait catches change at different parts of the whitebaiting season.
“Finding out which rivers are home to the rarer species means we can consider ways to help them survive, for example, by locating and managing upstream populations of adults and letting whitebaiters know which parts of the season to avoid fishing.”
Analysing environmental DNA (eDNA) is a very effective way of understanding what is or has been in the water. eDNA is genetic material that is shed by organisms, such as whitebait, as they move in, through and around their environment.
In 2024 DOC successfully trialled sampling for whitebait eDNA in the Bay of Plenty and Northland.
DOC
This year, DOC will expand this research into North and South Island rivers. Catch water samples will likely be taken once in August before the whitebaiting season starts, then every two weeks. A final sample will be taken in November after the season has closed.
Up to five rivers known to have good adult shortjaw or giant kōkopu populations will be sampled. Potential locations include the Waikato and Taranaki, Aorere Golden Bay and the West Coast.
“We are keen to get whitebaiters to help with this important research,” David says.
We’ll provide you with eDNA sampling kit syringes to sample the water in your whitebait catch bucket. The local DOC office will send the preserved eDNA samples to Wilderlab in Wellington for analysis. Only then will we know for sure which whitebait species might have been in your bucket. We hope you’ll find the results interesting too.”
Research results will be published on the DOC website ahead of the 2026 season.
If you plan to fish in the Waikato, Taranaki, Golden Bay or on the West Coast during the 2025 whitebait season and are interested in finding out what’s in your bucket, please contact wh*******@******vt.nz
