Invercargill made nets to support tuna at Stead Street Pump Station
For more than four and a half decades, Invercargill resident Ross Campbell has been the 'go-to’ custom net maker for catching tuna (eel).
Ross’ nets have been sought after by commercial and recreational fishers nationwide.
These days the nets are more commonly used for tuna monitoring and ‘trap and transfer’ programmes, where eels are safely guided through areas where their migration is obstructed by human-made structures such as dams, weirs, and other barriers in rivers.
When the new Stead Street Pump Station is fully commissioned this year, it will be Ross’ handiwork, by way of two sizeable custom-made tuna nets, that enable the monitoring of fish after they have passed through the station’s new twin Archimedes screw pumps.
The monitoring, which is a condition of the new pump station’s resource consent, will offer extra assurance that the new fishfriendly pumps provide safe passage, even for large tuna.
Ross turned his hand to eel fishing in the late 1960s after working for Motor Specialties in Invercargill for five years.
From there, his journey to becoming a tuna net specialist began.
“I didn’t even know what they (eels) were when I first went to catch them,” Ross says.
“My father worked with a Dutch man at the Grand Hotel, who used to fish for eels in the Aparima.
“The money was good and listening to him, my ears pricked up.”
Ross fished on the Mataura, Ōreti, Aparima and Waiau rivers and made his own nets from the very beginning.
“I’d seen other eel nets and wanted to build my own,” Ross says.
“My first ones were pretty rubbish, but I just kept going.
“Most of the nets at that time were quite large, so you couldn’t work very many at once.
“So, I made small nets, built my own 10 ft jet boat, and went from there.” Ross isn’t out on the water these days, but the demand for his nets keeps him busy.
“I retired from fishing seven years ago and thought I’d make a few nets part-time.
“But it’s been pretty much full-time from day one.
“I’m probably busier making nets than when I was catching eels. It’s flat-out.”
Over the past three years, Ross has seen a steady increase in demand for custom nets for tuna monitoring and trap and transfers from all around the country.
Among the orders are the nets for the Stead Street Pump Station project which Ross says are tricky because the net diameter has to be very large at 1.65 m to f it over the mouth of the outlet pipe.
But Ross is up for the challenge, which demonstrates why his net making services are so popular.
“I make heaps and heaps of different sizes because even ordinary fishermen all want something different.
So, I am always having to build something that I haven’t got.”
Read more about the Stead Street Pump Station project at www.es.govt.nz
