QUINNAT SALMON.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18672, 22 April 1926, Page 11

QUINNAT SALMON.

♦ NO MORE FOR THE MARKET, Most of the quinnat salmon sold in Christchurch shops comes from the . Waimakariri. It is now off the market, and' is finished for the season, the last run being a fortnight ago. W'hen, a reporter saw Mr D. Hope, Curator of the Acclimatisation Society's fisheries yesterday, lie said that the main r.un was , over. There might bo another small run, but it was impossible to say definitely. The. prospects were, for a very good run next year, for in 1923 there was a good run, and the four-year-olds were due up the river lsp spawn. The fish in the Waimakariri are practically self-acclimatised. A few have;been put into the river, but most of them have found their way there of their own accord. Quinnat) salmon .seem to havo,a partiality for snow rivers, and there aro great possibilities for the Waimakariri. _ Mr Hop© is strongly against the netting of fish. Ho considers it is far too soon for that. Another 10 years would havo been quite time enough to have started, or when the runs wero sufficiently strong to warrant it. He said that if the Government wished to make ib a business concern the anglers would be quite prepared to pay a license fee rof £'l, and as there were about 1000 quinnat salmon anglers in Canterbury it would be quite a good proposition. At present there were about eight men with nets in the Waimakariri who paid a. fee of £5. • An attempt was mad© about 20 years ago to acclimatise the fish, when 1,000,000 spawn was placed in the Waitaki. The fish became established there, and they seem to be doing well in the southern rivers. The rain rivers have not been patronised at all, but only those carrying a good deal of snow water.