TROUT OVA FROM SELWYN

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21812, 18 June 1936, Page 12

TROUT OVA FROM SELWYN

♦ ■ PROTEST BY ANGLERS “COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES” OBJECTED TO Objection to what they described as the commercial activities of the society and to the taking of large quantities of trout ova from the Selwyn river was made by members of the council of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society last night, when Mr A. G. Familton repeated the protest made to the last meeting of the council by a deputation from Selwyn fishermen. Mr Familton contended that the traps should be lifted as soon as possible, and the president, Mr G. L. PomfretDodd, replied that 850,000 ova had been ordered by other societies. Should the society now repudiate those commitments? he asked.

“It is time the stripping finished,” said Mr Familton. “The Selwyn is getting into a deplorable state.” The commitments would have to be met, but there was a strong feeling among the anglers there that too much stripping was being done. The society’s own liberations were about 1,000,000, said Mr C. H. Lawrence, for the other streams in the district had to be stocked. The suggestion that stripping in the Selwyn should be so restricted was most unsatisfactory. Mr C. H. Stonyer declared that the Selwyn was very well stocked. He had recently taken many young fish from the upper reaches, where they would have been destroyed, and placed them near the lake.

Mr L. B. Hart suggested that stripping should cease when 2,000,000 ova had been collected. That was half the amount collected last year and would leave 1,000,000 for liberation in the society’s otvn district.

“There has been a change of government and you can look forward to fair and equitable treatment from the new council,” said the president. “It is the duty of the. council to consider its territory in its entirety.”

It had been estimated that the annual production of ova in the Selwyn was about 400,000,000, said Dr. D. McK. Dickson. The natural production was enormous and the fishing in that river was not suffering from stripping. “To put it bluntly,” said Mr Familton, “we think we should stock our own rivers and that is enough. Four million ova is too much. We object to the stripping of the fisn in the river to sell the ova to other societies.”

“The society is becoming too much of a commercial club,” said Mr J. W. Simpson. “I also object to selling to others.”

After the president stated that of the 850,000 ova 250,000 were for exchange with other societies, the council decided to cease stripping as soon as sufficient ova had been collected to meet the commitments and adequately stock the rivers in the district.