SALMON IN THE HURUNUI

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21020, 23 November 1933, Page 10

SALMON IN THE HURUNUI

DEPARTMENTAL OPINIONS EFFECT OF NETTING ON SPORT The opinions of the Marine Department on the netting of quinnat salmon in the Hurunui as it affects the sporting side of fishing were indicated in a letter received from the Minister in charge of the department (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) at the meeting of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last evening. * The letter was a reply to a petition on the question, sent by 45 ' signatories in the Domett, Cheviot, and Parnassus districts, and to the covering letter from the society, in which it was stated that through the netting operations last season the farmers and residents in the district had been unable to obtain any fish or sport. The letter from the Minister read: "While fully appreciating the apprehension of the salmon anglers of the district and of the society, I find it difficult to conclude that the operations of the netting licenses last season had any unduly detrimental effect on the runs of salmon entering the river or on the sport of the rod fisherman. The information available to the Marine Department goes to indicate on the other hand that the netting operations were very difficult and decidedly unremunerative, and were continued for a comparatively short time. An Experiment. "The issue of this license was of a tentative and experimental nature and was largely influenced by the desire to afford means of employment in the prevailing hard times, and also to relieve the pressure of applications for netting on the Waimakariri. The department is concerned equally with acclimatisation societies in safeguarding and developing the fishery assets of the Dominion, both from the sporting and the economic standpoint, but it must be recognised, first, that the quinnat salmon were introduced primarily for their commercial value, and second, that no satisfactory evidence has yet been forthcoming to lead to the conclusion that the existence of a commercial net fishery for quinnat salmon under the conditions prescribed by recent or existing regulations is detrimental to the interests of the average angler. It would appear, so far as Canterbury is concerned, that both anglers and the Acclimatisation Society have benefited gratuitously from the introduction of these fish."

The letter added that netting licenses would not be issued without careful consideration of the consequences to the conservation of the stock of salmon or other fish. The Minister said that he would be grateful for any definite evidence that could be provided on the question.

Mr Cobbe suggested that to assist the department in dealing with the question the society could send information about the approximate number of salmon caught in the Hurunui each season for, say, the last five years, the number of fishing license holders in the Hurunui district for the last five years and among the signatories of the petition submitted. A Good Innings. Commenting on Mr Cobbe's letter. the chairman, Mr F. Steans, said that one thing that was evident was that the department was not unaware that sportsmen had had a good long innings with the salmon at no cost. "We will have to step warily if we are going to continue," said Mr Steans. Some of the details asked for by the Minister would be impossible to obtain. Mr Steans added that he would undertake to reply to the letter. Mr G. T. Robertson, who seconded a motion that the chairman be asked to reply to the letter, said that he regarded the letter as a hint to the society to mind its own business. The society would have to be very careful how it dictated to the department. The motion was carried.