"Little O"

We went to fish the "Big O" yesterday afternoon, Lake Otamangakau, which is well known as New Zealand's trophy rainbow trout fishery. Dave was pretty jazzed as he'd just finished visiting with Dr. Michel Dedual, Fishery Scientist for the Department of Conservation's Taupo Fishery Area, who showed him fish data and fish pictures, and even told him where to fish! This on the heels of years of stories from friend Chad Newman who fished the Big O with good success on his visit to NZ in earlier days.

We got to the lake and began to check out an area recommended by Michel, this requiring some clever and careful driving with our low clearance Ford Mondeo wagon. Gret had her eyes closed for much of this - Dave had to peek once in a while since he was driving. After getting into and out of one potential area from which to launch our flyfishing offensive, we tried another little 2 track that we hoped would take us to a better spot. We reached a fork of sorts, in the narrow track, and Ari noted from the back seat - "Hey, a puppy!"

Dave stopped and we all looked at the pup - both he and Gretchen knew that the fishing wasn't going to happen that afternoon. The pup was sitting near a bush, with one eyelid stuck shut, and as Dave got out and approached it, the pup came over to greet him. A 6 or so week old white bull terrier or some such breed, the poor little chap was emaciated. He'd been sitting on a box on which was his dead litter-mate; both pups had been abandoned there in the bush and had been there for a week probably.

We put the pup in a box and drove the half-hour back to Turangi on the south shore of Lake Taupo. The Police station was closed, but there was a phone at the entrance that connects with dispatch, so an officer was dispatched to meet us there at the station and take the pup from us to deliver to the SPCA office up the lake at Taupo the next day. Dave asked if we could call to check on the pup's status, and noted that his name is "Little O." We will call or check in on him soon to let you know how he is.

Cheers!

Anglers' Paradise

We're in the Taupo area, staying at Rich and Sandy's Windsor Lodge in Waitahanui, near the mouth of the Waitahanui River which is the site of Lake Taupo's famous picket fence (see the pic!). We have yet to fish, but Rich and Sandy have been helping us make contacts with key Department of Conservation staff (DOC manages the Taupo District's fisheries - all others in NZ are managed by Regional Fish and Game NZ Councils - more on this below), a local guide, and anglers.

Zane Grey probably first described New Zealand as an "Angler's Paradise," at least in print, and this is certainly true of the entire country with it's popular bluewater, near-shore, and freshwater fisheries. Because most anglers aren't as wealthy and energetic as Grey and now often focus on a particular type of fishing, Dave would revise his title to "Anglers' Paradise." All of the fisheries are different than when he visited - recent gossip and writings indicate that the offshore bluewater fishery for marlin and other large marine gamefish has deteriorated, that the trout in Lake Taupo are smaller and less plentiful than they once were, etc., etc. There are numerous reasons for these turns of events, no doubt, but NZ still is Anglers' Paradise!

Lake Taupo is one of New Zealand's most important draws for domestic and international anglers. It is being managed for wild fish (all salmonids in NZ are introduced species), and a quality fishery. The assumption on the part of DOC is that the health of the fishery is a reflection of the overall health of the Taupo Basin - the assumption that underlies the research Dave is conducting. And what a piscatorial landscape this area displays! The signage for each community along Highway 1 along the east side of the lake features fish (see the pic for Turangi), as do many of the businesses (also an angling theme - especially in Turangi). There is the National Trout Centre just south of Turangi on the Tongariro River (when we tried to visit on Friday 3/11/11 the Centre was celebrating the opening of an expanded aquarium with many local dignitaries and benefactors attending) which has an important historic and current educational mission to educate Kiwis and visitors alike about the importance of clean water and healthy aquatic ecosystems. See the pic above of the boys sampling the fish at the Centre's trout pond!

Lastly, more about the DOC, the Regional Fish and Game NZ Councils, and fisheries management. Both the DOC and the Regional F&G NZ Councils (as well as the National F&G NZ Council) are funded entirely by license fees. In the case of the Regional F&G NZ Councils, twelve councillors are elected by license holders who have ticked the appropriate box on their license forms when these are purchased. They must specify a particular region that they wish to be able to serve as a part of the electorate, but they may fish anywhere in NZ (freshwaters only, outside of the Taupo Basin - marine fishing does not require a license!) with their F&G NZ license. The Regional F&G NZ Councils then appoint from amongst their ranks one representative who will serve at the National Council level. Additionally, councils at both levels are served by professional staffs (with heavier science emphasis at the regional level and heavier policy emphasis at the national level). Thus, Fish & Game NZ is essentially a self-financed democratic institution.

Well, it's time to leave the virtual world in favor of the real one, with real fish in it, so Cheers to all of you again. We plan on fishing the Waitahunai and at the picket fence yet - will have a big fish story for you later we hope.

The Earthquake in Christchurch

Now that we have a little time, we should give you more info on the earthquake in Christchurch, NZ. We were going to go there on Tuesday when the quake hit, but Rio had President’s day off so on Monday we instead stayed two hours south of the city and spent time on a beach and checking out the salmon fishery there. If we hadn’t, we were going to be in Christchurch’s downtown, at a library or wherever there was wifi, when the quake happened. We’re and so glad we weren't as this was the zone that was worst hit. The quake had a magnitude of 6.3 quake and an epicenter some 11 km from downtown. It was just 5 km deep we heard. Many multistory buildings downtown collapsed, and as of this morning there are 113 fatalities and still 200 persons missing. The quake was worse in most ways than those that struck the city in September and December as no lives were lost previously in those events, and much more damage occurred this time. For new from Christchurch’s newspaper, The Press, you can follow this link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/. The quake was really a bad one for this community- we'd already seen the assessments and repairs from the last batch of shakes. The town was still a mess when we saw it in late January, and I know it's much worse now. It is clear that the city, and New Zealand in general, is going to have to plan and build much more conservatively in the future.

We were coming into town at 1 pm when it struck, but didn't know until 2 pm after trying to find a bite for lunch and found shops closed. Kids were out of school standing on the streets, and traffic was snarled. We turned on radio and got the news and decided to divert around town and go north to get safe and out of everyone's way. We hit a grocery store at a city 20 minutes to the north before literally heading for the hills, and it was buzzing. On Wednesday we visited with Don and Jenny, friends of the Shively family, in Pegasus (just north of Christchurch). They treated us to a tour of their brand new and growing community (Pegasus is a new planned community), and a wonderful Kiwi evening tea. While there we felt a couple of aftershocks and watched Don’s seismometer (a half full glass of water on the entertainment center) shake. Unfortunately, Dave’s research contacts have been affected by the quake and he will connect with people again after some time when agency offices have reopened.

We’re now on the west coast of the South Island after travelling through Arthur's Pass National Park, and catching up on school (Rio and Ari) and work (Dave). We’ll go to see the snouts of the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers tomorrow – we couldn’t not go as these, along with the Tasman Glacier that we already visited in Mt. Cook-Aoraki National Park, are the most accessible glaciers in the world (and large and still quite dynamic). We do wish we could go back to the Tasman Glacier because we heard from Don that a large piece of the snout/toe had calved off into the meltwater lake below it. In a few days we’ll head back north to the Marlborough region, catch the ferry back to the North Island on March 5th, then Dave will visit and give talks at Massey University in Palmerston North on March 7th and 9th. After that we plan to spend time at Lake Taupo, one of the world’s noted rainbow trout fisheries, then we go back to Hamilton where Dave will visit and give another talk at the University of Waikato (March 18th).

We hope that folks in Christchurch can get their lives back in order soon. That will be a challenge though. We're safe and will stay that way. Thanks to those who called and wrote! Love to you all, the Shivegaards.

The Mighty Mataura

We've spent some time in and around the Mataura River basin for the last five days, fishing and interviewing anglers. The town of Gore calls itself "The World Capital of Brown Trout Fishing" due to the incredible fisheries here, and ranks high on the list of piscatorial landscapes of the world (see the pic of the giant brown trout above!). After visiting Stu's World Famous Flyshop in Athol, we did some fishing on the nearby Oreti and the middle Mataura and Wakaia (Gret had some success!), we came to Gore because of iminent inclement weather and our needs for internet for school and work. After about 75 mm of precip on Sunday night (we were in our tents!), the Mataura has risen to flood stage (see pic above). Its browns are going to be even browner!

Fisheries management here in New Zealand, outside of Lake Taupo on the North Island, is the responsibility of Fish and Game Councils that operate at the regional and national levels. These councils are comprised of members elected by hunting and/or fishing license holders, and is autonomous in regard to the national government. All of its revenue comes from license fees, and it sets regulations, reviews and comments on consents for development (hydroprojects, water abstractions, dairy operations, urban projects, etc.) as well as working to protect threatened rivers and waters with conservation orders. I'm still learning about the details of these activities, but the system seems to be quite unique in that it is run by the sporting stakeholders themselves. Still, there seems to be a lot of room for politics!

We will try the Mataura and some of its neighboring rivers and tributaries after they drop back into fishable shape (we are still in search of more wading boots to replace those we sent home because their felt soles are banned by the government for fear of new aquatic invasive species introductions), but until then we plan to visit Invercargill and Milford Sound. Will report further when the opportunity presents itself.

Until later, Cheers!

Japan to New Zealand

This is a long one - sorry folks!

Two weeks we spent in Japan, solely in the Tokyo area, and me and Rio with colds that we picked up in China. They came on just after clearing Narita Airport's quantine area at which your surface temperature is measured with a thermal scanner as you pass through a certain gate. Saw as many or more people on the streets wearing surgical masks to prevent infection as in China - Gretchen observed that they are really only effective for an hour or two - good point to keep in mind! Now, miles away from any international airport, we see no masks.

Our time in Tokyo was spent in a hostel, JGH Hostel in fact, a real rabbit warren but really nice owners and managers. We were all in bunks in a room of 2 m length, 1 m wide, and 2.5 m high! See the picture above. After a week at JGH we went out to the countryside near Narita Airport to stay with Takashi Yamamoto (Yama) at his Narita Airport Hostel. Yama is a great guy full of knowledge about Japan and other countries to which he has travelled. For any travellers visiting the Tokyo area, this is a good place to stay with pretty easy bus and train service to Narita and Tokyo. Yama will lend you bicycles for tours in the countryside around his hostel. We visited the buddhist shrine in Narita, which was still very busy with New Year's events (prayers and offerings for a new year of good luck and fortune), and the beach and coast (see pic above).

Now in New Zealand for three weeks almost now, we're in Twizel (pronounced with a hard I) just in the shadow of the Southern Alps and Aoraki/Mt. Cook. We found some more free camping and travelled up to Aoraki-Mt. Cook National Park to view the Tasman Glacier's snout. It was very cool - had been producing icebergs that were floating in the meltwater lake (Tasman) between the snout and the terminal moraine. Glacial landforms throughout this entire area are incredible.

Christchurch is a pretty neat city. It's still in earthquake recovery mode (the big quake - 7.1 - occurred last September) with many older structures, especially churches, surrounded by scaffolding and under repair. While there we got equipped for the rest of our camping and travels, and made an excellent contact for my research which we will follow up on when we return in a couple of weeks.

On our way to the South Island we had a great crossing of Coook Strait - with Hectors Dolphins, salmon farms, and crazy-bad logging seen in the Queen Charlotte Sound. We camped a couple of nights for free at a Department of Conservation site on Robin Hood Bay, then off through the rest of the awesome Marlborough region and down to Christchurch.

Our North Island activities after leaving Auckland where we bought a car in under 2 days (a 96 Ford Mondeo Wagon w/ just over 100,000 km for about $1,800 US) included 5 days on the Coromandel Peninsula not far from Aukland. Beautiful beaches, nice camping spot or two, and severe sunburn - really have to watch those UVs in NZ - they'll get you fast. We then spent 5 days in Hamilton visiting at the University of Waikato and the public library where Rio completed his final exams for his online courses. An old acquaintance of Dan's (Shively) from Oregon State University's Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, Dr. Brendan Hicks, was kind enough to help bring me more up to speed on the history and structure of New Zealand's trout management approach.

Well, librarian says it's time to go, so more later mates!

Israel and Beijing

We spent sixteen days in Israel after leaving Europe on December 12, and how wonderful it was to visit with our extended family there. I hadn't visited there since I was nine years old (in 1972 - the passport control officer asked what had taken me so long to return!), and there were many cousins that I had never met before, older and younger, and my wonderful aunts of course. Toda raba to all of you for your wonderful hospitality and fun times! We stayed just off the beach in Tel Aviv and also visited Caecerea's Roman aqueduct on the shore of the Mediterranean, Jaffa, the Old City of Jerusalem (including the Wailing Wall, the four Sephardic synagogues, and the Kabbalistic synagogue where my great, great grandfather was a Rabbi - see the image of the tin door above), the Moshav where my cousin Rina and her family live, and the Dead Sea (better known as Yam Hamelach, or the Salty Sea in Hebrew - we did swim/float and it was amazing). Though we didn't have time to climb Masada and learn more about its history, we were quite awed by its commanding presence towering over the sea below.

Israel is in the midst of a long drought and though it has had a national water plan on the books (and with revisions I'm sure) since I was a PhD student and wrote a paper on water issues there, apparently there has been little progress towards implementing it (according to the relatives). Despite having pioneered drip irrigation, we saw evidence of flood irrigation of some orchards and fields and the use of handlines for irrigation of truck crops. And this after the agricultural sector has already experienced severe cuts in water deliveries. Despite this and the oft repeated desire for more water storage, the government is giving attention to river restoration in a program run by the Ministry of the Environment. Projects have been implemented on 6 of Israel's 16 major rivers. Most notably, this program explicitly recognizes the rights of nature to water. Dave will look forward to tracking the progress of these efforts in the future.

Five days in Beijing were meant to satisfy a more basic tourism idiom for us, and boy did they ever! We visited the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and Tiananmen Square. To see the Great Wall and Ming Tombs, we hired a tour, and what a racket that can be. Along with many other private vans (we used one of these) and buses, we were whisked not only to these attractions, but to a government run jade "carving factory", a government run silk "factory" and shop, and the same for a tea shop. Feeling a little dirty after having been handled so craftily by our guides, we opted out of the Chinese natural medicine facility, also run by the government I think. Thoughts on this experience include the following: this is a good way for China to bolster tourist spending, the guide operations are required to do this probably, and why not exploit the western schills.

Water issues in Beijing are also important as the city is fast outstripping its available water supply thus necessitating that it reach out to rural areas to satisfy urban demands. Dave wasn't able to research much of this, but does recall from a former student's paper that the great North-South water project is intended to deliver waters from the Yangtze to the Beijing region when the project is completed.

Beijing is also trying to deal with traffic related congestion and pollution and issued a new policy limiting new car ownership beginning in 2011 - it will be done by lottery and no one person is supposed to be able to purchase a second vehicle.

We're now in Tokyo for a week and then will visit the Japanese Alps - probably won't be skiing though. There are rivers up there that are treasured trout fisheries here and we'll visit with local angler groups that manage them.

Happy New Year to All! Dave and Crew.

Leaving Spain, and Europe

Following Thanksgiving we zoomed across Spain to Zaragoza in Aragon in order to stage for our travels north towards Paris for our departure to Israel. A primary motivating factor underscoring the selection of the route was whether or not we could explore the Pyrenees one last time - in particular a ski area. If that were not possible we would have pressed on to Barcelona.

We were in luck two different ways. First, after arriving in Zaragoza we learned that the "Siberian" which has been affecting weather all across Europe with very cold temps and copious snow dumped enough snow in the Pyrenees to allow many ski resorts to open. So we went north to the Spanish/Catalan/Aran village of Viella/Vielha to stay a few days in the mountains and ski at Baqueira-Beret (see the map at http://www.baqueira.es/estacion/mapa-pistas). Rio, Ari, and I had the mountain and all the lifts pretty much to ourselves, which was especially tough given that there were 2-6 inches (I think that 5-15 cm sounds better) of fresh powder down on virtually untouched slopes since the mountain had just opened. !Muy bueno para nosotros!

The second way we were lucky was that Barcelona and Madrid soccer clubs were playing a series of matches (a championship?) and the city of Barcelona was in near riot form in a number of areas apparently even though the Barcelona club was trouncing Madrid (even a 5-0 match).

Some notes on geography and water. The landscape north of Zaragoza in the area of Huesca and Barbastro, and Benabarre is similar in many ways to Montana's Rocky Mountain Front (minus the dramatic hilltop villages of course). Dramatic reefs break down to the plain below, and the sedimentary formations are very impressive (see pic above). On the downside, the rivers that drain the south side of the Pyrenees in Aragon are much developed for irrigation and hydroelectricity production, even to the point where the rivers carried no flow in many reaches. We also witnessed this in the Valle de Aran on the north side of the Pyrenees but still in Spain - on the Riu Aran which is the headwater tributary of France's Garrone (see the other pic above). After crossing the border into France, the canals started immediately too!

We're flying to Tel Aviv tomorrow but won't arrive until Monday because of a layover (Dusseldorf - will only sleep there). Hopefully the fires are out by now. If you hadn't seen it in the news, there are some large and deadly (some 40 fatalities) fires in the North with at least one set intentionally by arsonists according to my dear Aunt Adina. The fact of wildfires is not surprising though given that Israel has been experiencing a hot, dry, and long late summer. Will be looking into water, land, and fire management there during our visit - and spreading the word about proper planning for development in the WUI (wildland urban interface).

Au revoir from and to France - and Peace to all!