Its national council was proposing to raise licence fees this season in part to support increasing legal costs.
Cr Witherow, the Otago council's national representative, said at a meeting of the Otago council this week the national council had overspent its legal budget of $455,000 by not quite $100,000. It has an overall budget of about $9 million.
"We are not squandering the money. We can afford it. We have not got any option."
Dr Colin Aldridge, who had reviewed legal costs for the previous meeting, said the council should stop the "expediential growth" in legal costs by introducing a criteria to measure each situation.
"Don't fight everything."
Cr Witherow said New Zealand was losing its "blue ribbon" waterways constantly and the threat was higher than it had ever been.
It was policy to always have applications for Water Conservation Orders running as there was always the risk that if they did not, the Government would remove provision for the orders, he said.
Cr John Barlow said recently Fish and Game had been involved in two conservation orders in the South Island, the Hurunui and Nevis Rivers. It could not be foreseen that costs would "snowball" in each case.
Chief executive Niall Watson said the problem was under-budgeting of legal costs rather than the expenditure not being valid.
The need for outlay around the country at the same time had been a coincidence.
"We do have a strict criteria to grant legal funding."
In the case of conservation orders, the Minister of Conservation had to accept there was a case and had done for each application Fish and Game had made.
The council could reduce costs by using different approaches depending on the situation - full legal advice, partial support or unsupported advocacy.
Cr Ray Grubb said he would like the situation to be "enunciated" more clearly and without the emotion.
Cr Witherow said 16 rivers were protected by conservation orders - the equivalent of national parks on rivers.
"Fish and Game is an environmental protection agency and its principal job is habitat protection. We need to continue to do it right up till we go broke."
