The whitebaiting season kicked off on the West Coast this morning - under the watchful eye of Police.
Four out of five New Zealand whitebait species are now under threat, so a Police Prevention team was out on the banks of Grey River talking to anglers.
"We're basically out in the guise of prevention," says Sergeant Paul Watson, from the West Coast Police.
"It's making sure people are safe and feeling safe in their environments."
And it's not just on the West Coast where a keen eye is being kept on whitebaiters.
In Canterbury the season got underway a fortnight ago, and Department of Conservation (DOC) compliance officers have been doing routine patrols.
"We're just doing a whitebait patrol this morning," says DOC biodiversity ranger Anita Spencer.
They're checking nets aren't longer than six metres and that fishermen are only out between the allocated hours of five in the morning to eight at night.
Ms Spencer says this is important now more than ever as four out of five whitebait species are on the threatened species list.
"The main one that's caught here is Inaka - and that's ranked as declining, so it's just really important that the fishermen know the rules," she says.
And it's not just the DOC doing its bit to try help the whitebait.
Here at the Heathcote River in Christchurch, work has been carried out to try and improve the whitebait's spawning grounds, including laying peastraw along the banks.
"The bales were installed in areas where they otherwise wouldn't be able to spawn if that wasn't there, and in so doing got a huge number of eggs - and potentially ensure there's a lot more whitebait coming into our east coast rivers," says EOS Ecology principle scientist Shelley McMurtrie.
And that's got to be good news for these whitebaiters who have until November to net their catch.
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