On Saturday at the Otago Fish and Game council meeting in Cromwell, the organisation’s operations manager Ian Hadland presented fishing licence sales figures up to January 23.
Fishing licences for each season are sold from the third week of August and sales for the season finish on September 30 the following year.
Seasons last from October 1 to the following September 30.
As of January 23, licence sales had increased by about 5%, from 16,657 in 2016-17 to 17,440 in 2017-18 up to the same date, which was a notable increase, Mr Hadland observed.
Last season, Otago sold the most whole-season licence equivalents of any region in the country.
Mr Hadland said fishing licence sales in the North Island were falling, especially in the Eastern region, which carried a large proportion of North Island sales.
He said Otago licence numbers were up compared with other regions because Otago had good weather and the region offered back-country endorsements which had to be purchased for the whole year.
"An exceptional summer by and large, and one of the best on record means the whole season is bigger this year."
Mr Hadland said the licences in the North Island could have decreased because of the weather and the popularity of sea fishing, for which one does not need a licence.
Fish and Game policy and planning manager Robert Sowman, said he could not be certain as to why the South sold more licences than the North but there were trends in the industry that could tell the story.
"There’s a fair agreement that [sales] follow weather patterns and a wet season people wait to buy licences.
"The Southern part of the country is more rural and the activity does not seem to be continuing in the North."
He said Fish and Game could look at developing opportunities in the cities to encourage people in urban areas to become more interested in hunting and fishing.
Anglers need a fishing licence to catch sports fish which are classified as trout, char, salmon, perch, tench or rudd.
At the meeting, Monty Wright was re-elected as chairman of the Otago council for another year.
