TROUT FOOD.
I ENSURING BETTER SUPPLY. REDRESSING RIVER BANKS. CO-OPERATIVE RESEARCH. # Some time ago the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, on its own account, obtained a report from Mr. W. J. Phillips upon the position of the fish foods in the New Zealand rivers, with a view to determining the best means of im•proving them. This report was submitted to Professor H. B. Kirk, whose reply was received at the last meeting of the society. *• Mr. Phillips' paper is an exhaustive one, technical, and comprehensive of the sources of supply in both Islands. Professor Kirk reports that the paper is undoubtedly of value, and that the remedy for the falling off in supplies proposed by Mr. Phillips, of planting the banks of streams with native shrubs, is the only one. "But to effect a remedy," he continues, the forest conditions over the whole of the watersheds Would have to be restored, an impossible thing. Partial restoration is possible . . and that is what Mr. Phillips proposes. «For the purpose of providing cover for insects, the trees planted on the banks of the streams should be, for the most part," natives of New Zealand, such as lacebark, mahoe, ngaio, kowhai, etc. "I think Mr. Phillips is right in his conclusion that the supply of fish food has not been seriously depleted, at all events not so seriously that the depletion i s the cause of the falling-off in the size of the trout. Many" larvae may now find the conditions unsuitable but it is quite probable that other larvae find the new conditions more suitable. Also I think he is ri*ht in the view that if dearth of food supply is the cause of degeneration in the trout, the food that has become scarce conof the smaller native fishes. It would be of great use to have a comparison made of two streams, one of them exposed over the greater part of its course, and the other more or less overshadowed by native growth, and, in order that a test be made of Dr Till yard's view that the fish have greatly depleted the msect portion of their food supply, a comparison should be made between streams similar in surroundings, the one stocked with trout, and 2fw n' B "° h a Stream as «™»es over waterfa Is impassable to trout, unstocked." * Professor Kirk agrees that it mi<*ht f ° r . the Acclimatisation Society of New Zealand to combine to appoint an officer with the adeanato scientific training, and set aside a" sum either for the establishment of an expe™ mental inland station equipped for the eriee. De P art »mt'g hatch-
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Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 10
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436TROUT FOOD. Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 10
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