The matter was likely to be discussed at the Fish and Game council's meeting in Cromwell today, Mr Watson said.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council decided at its meeting in Wanaka on Tuesday to lift the five-knot speed restriction.
The decision introduces two uplift periods - between November 1 and December 12, and between March 19 and April 30 - in an attempt to meet the opposing interests of anglers and jet-boaters.
Mr Watson said in a statement the council was "extremely disappointed" in the public process, a report by the council's regulatory and corporate services manager, Roger Taylor, and the working party recommendation adopted by the council on Tuesday.
"This has been a significant decision on the management of an important backcountry area, yet the context for that decision has limited consideration of the river's amenity values.
There has been no acknowledgement of statutory plans prepared by [the Department of Conservation] and Fish and Game that identify the Hunter as having nationally important natural and recreational values and no recognition of the cumulative effects of additional motorised activities," Mr Watson said.
Mr Watson noted there was a longstanding anomaly between the district plan and the bylaws on jet-boat speed limits - the district plan permits access between November 1 and April 30 but a subsequent bylaw imposes a five-knot speed limit that effectively prevents access - but said the management of natural and amenity values had not been well served by the QLDC's decision.
He criticised the narrow scope of the review and questioned whether there could be any confidence in the council's monitoring of the remote river for compliance.
He also said panel member Cr Lyal Cocks declared his support for an uplift in February 2009 and should have withdrawn from the review.
Mr Taylor said in his report the issues of amenity and nuisance had already been considered by the QLDC when making its decisions on the Hunter River in its district plan.
A panel in 2009 decided there were no sufficiently compelling nuisance grounds to continue with the speed restriction.
It recommended the speed limit be uplifted but the council could not agree and referred it back to the working party.
The working party decided the council's earlier decisions in respect of nuisance and amenity on the river had to prevail.
The only way forward from there was to test the matter again with the public, solely on the issue of speed.
That did not imply predetermination by the hearings panel, Mr Taylor said.
The working party decided neither the anglers' nor jet-boaters' arguments were sufficiently strong enough to exclude the interests of the other group, so it favoured an option catering for both groups.
