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Ngati Tuwharetoa has denied it plans to farm trout commercially.
Fish and Game, which manages trout everywhere but the Lake Taupo catchment, claims the tribe’s treaty settlement will allow Ngati Tuwharetoa to raise trout in Taupo’s existing trout hatchery facilities and harvest them for cultural purposes.
Chief executive Bryce Johnson says that’s the thin edge of the wedge leading to trout farming.
But the iwi says it wants to use trout from the existing hatchery near Turangi, which would otherwise be turned in to fertiliser when the hatchery ponds are periodically cleaned out.
That’s a way to get trout on the table when there are tangi or other significant tribal events, while taking pressure off the wider Lake Taupo fishery.
Marae already have the right to fish for trout for such events.
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