The death of Raglan whitebait farmer Charles Mitchell has left a hole in aquaculture, but his legacy will live on.

Charles Mitchell was the kind of environmentalist who loved progress, hated red tape and shared his knowledge with anyone who'd listen.

The sustainable whitebait pioneer has been described by his children as a "mad scientist of the best degree".

"He was a true polymath," his daughter Megan Mitchell said, "an artist, a musician, a sailor, a builder, a scientist, a historian and a father. He was generous with his time and knowledge, inspirational in his innovation, and above all, kind."

CAMERON BURNELL/FAIRFAX NZ Charles Mitchell in 2009 with a giant kokopu caught in the Huatoki stream.

Charles died in September next to his fish ponds near Raglan, where he'd spent decades restoring whitebait habitat.

READ MORE:

* Whitebait farmer now focusing on eels

* Rare native fish teeming stream



He was 64.

SUPPLIED An inanga drawn by the late Charles Mitchell.

Charles had been fascinated with wetlands and the natural world since he was a child, said Megan.

He was raised in Rotorua and Te Kuiti, where an interest in aquatic life saw him fossicking in drains and urban waterways for interesting specimens for his homemade aquariums.

Charles worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) for more than 20 years, where he was responsible for restoring whitebait fisheries, but by 1992, he could see it wasn't going to happen within the confines of government research.

"I could see the only way of researching restoration was to do it - and pay for it - myself," he said in an interview in 2014.



He quit MAF and began to work on a new plan to farm the sea.

In 1996, the family moved to a small property near Raglan to begin a grand-scale wetland restoration.

Taking wasteland that had been heavily grazed by generations of beef farmers on a waterway similarly degraded by the dominant practices of the time, Charles invested his life's savings in wetland restoration.

His fish farm maintained the only man-made sea-going whitebait population in the world for more than a decade.

Daughter Jodi Leckie said her father was never against whitebaiters - he recognised the reason for diminishing whitebait populations was loss of habitat.

"It was his vision for it to be a commercial enterprise. [His ponds] supported the local population, but he did know you couldn't restore all the wetlands in the Waikato back to the way they were."

Admiration for him goes beyond just his family.

"Charlie had equal quantities of wisdom, idealism and determination – not always a comfortable combination," University of Waikato Professor Brendan Hicks said.

"He leaves a huge hole in the community of fishery researchers and fish enthusiasts nationwide, and we will greatly miss him."

While his death left a void in aquaculture expertise, his legacy will live on in those he mentored, Jodi said.

"He very much viewed people and industry as part and parcel of the world we live in and he strove for solutions that could accommodate these sometimes conflicting needs."

In the face of advancing glaucoma and what seemed like an unending mountain of red tape, Charles took his life on September 13, Megan said.

"The difficulty with having science on your side is that it is of no assistance if the denizens of officialdom do not understand that science."

Jodi agreed.

"As a man constantly out there doing stuff, he really struggled against the people at their desks."

The glaucoma was slowly robbing him of the ability to read - a fate worse than death for a man who lived to learn.

It's unclear what will happen to Charles's whitebait ponds now their master is gone.

Jodi said her mother, Jan, is still piecing together her life after losing her husband and companion of 45 years.

"He had so many dreams and she supported him in that dream.

"It's never easy being a pioneer in the field."