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TROUT FISHING WITH MAURICE RODWAY - Weekly Column: 24-November-00
 Southland, New Zealand

Bob McDowall - World Renowned Fisheries Scientist retires.

This week Bob McDowall, New Zealand's most respected freshwater fishery scientist retires after a long and productive career in the field of fisheries research and management. Bob worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and latterly at NIWA, or the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere. Not many anglers will know too much about Bob McDowall, although his writings in the Fish and Game Magazine will be familiar to some.

Bob's early trout fishing days began in Taupo. Like many of us he was fortunate enough to grow up in a place where there was good trout fishing. This interest led him into the wider field of native freshwater fish, especially the galaxiids or whitebait. Bob has written many books and scientific articles, ranging from the most technical treatise on the habits of river galaxiids to popular little texts about the management of trout.

Before the days of Fish and Game, when trout and salmon fishing was managed by the Acclimatisation Societies Bob was a government scientist who gave advice on technical aspects of trout management. In more recent times he has become involved with the Clutha Sports Fishery Trust, as a trustee, which is responsible for enhancing the trout fishing in Lake Dunstan and the upper Clutha River and lakes.

Bob's expert advice saved anglers thousands of dollars by persuading the  acclimatisation societies, and to make sure that trout stocking was limited to places where it was really needed, and not into rivers where there was already adequate natural reproduction.

Not only did anglers gain a great deal form his advice but whitebaiters also can be thankful he has taken an interest in these little fish. Bob's whitebait book is a very authoritative work on the lives and management of these fish and the fishery they support.  As with many other natural resources there is a great deal of speculation that surrounds the comings and goings of these fish, and facts are not usually much in evidence. The identification of the need to protect their spawning and rearing habitats, in the lowland parts of rivers, was a plea that Bob frequently made. Now most whitebaiters recognise this too and so do local authorities so there are rules and other methods to protect these areas.

Bob is an internationally recognised scientist with unsurpassed expertise in the lives of little fish not too many people know much about, except when they are mixed with an egg in the bottom of a fry pan. He also has made a great contribution to the protection of a recreation angler's value so much. One of the reasons we have such a world class trout fishery now in New Zealand, is because Bob McDowall has been a quiet but forceful and rational advocate for them and the habitats so essential for their survival.

Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand                           E-mail: mrodway@southlandfishgame.co.nz

Article © 2000 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.

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