Fish Taggers Enjoy Unusual Angling

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28284, 23 May 1957, Page 15

Fish Taggers Enjoy Unusual Angling

SOMEWHERE in the Mataura river and several other Southland streams are “a whole mefcs of fish” bearing a small laminated tag which reads: “Released for your enjoyment by Sherman Barnett, 400 Grove street, Glencoe, Illinois.” These trout were caught by Mr Barnett, a Chicago lawyer who has been on holiday in New Zealand. Mr Barnett is a trout fisherman with a difference. He catches njany fish, but rarely do they appear on his table at home. As the founder and present president of the Fish Taggers’ Association, Mr Barnett is more concerned with the number of fish he catches and releases than the number he takes home. “Fish for fun, not for meat,” is the association’s motto and the 1000-odd members scattered throughout the world live up to this creed.

Barnett and his fellow members believe that fishing is a sport and that the thrill in the sport is not catching and eating the fish, but purely landing it. Fish taggers, he says, get the additional thrill of often hearing again of thb fish they tagged through a letter from another angler who caught it later. One of the most important features of the tagging, however, is the information acquired on the movements and growth of fish. These invaluable reports are handed over to the authorities. The United States Government, fully aware of the good. work the association is doing, exempts the members from paying income tax on money spent on fish tagging. The hardest part in fish tagging is, naturally, catching the fish. What follows is comparatively easy work with the equipment provided by the association. In the kit are small sheets of laminated paper tags, which, when cut off, ' are attached to the gill cover of ; the fish by a special pair of ; stapling pliers. The tags will not deteriorate in water and the staples used are not affected by fresh and salt water.

Wastage

The aim of the association is to help prevent the needless waste of fish through anglers catching more than they require to eat. Mr

Information

As well as the member’s name and address on the tag, is a request to forward to the tagger information on where the fish was taken subsequently. The tagger then provides the second angler with data on where the fish was originally taken, the bait used and other information on the dimensions and condition of the fish. All this informa ion is recorded by the tagger on special forms after he has tagged, weighed and measured his fish. The sport has been widely acclaimed by sporting writers and newspapers in the United States and Mr Barnett believes that in New Zealand—a country with thousands of anglers and “magnificent” fishing streams—fish tagging would also prove popular. He sees no reason why New Zealanders should not form their own fish taggers’ association, and says that already the United States’ association has members in Finland, Japan and Venezuela.

Place in N.Z.

Undoubtedly such an organisation in New Zealand would greatly assist acclimatisation societies and the Marine Department to study the habits and movements of fish, as well as helping to conserve the fish stocks in lakes and rivers. A somewhat similar scheme is operating in the Dominion—anglers being asked to record statistics of catches, weights and sizes—but it in no way compares with the United States system. With more and more persons taking out fishing licences every year, the time must surely come when acclimatisation societies will have to reduce their bag limits for with such a long season—seven months—lakes and rivers could easily become denuded of fish and New Zealand’s great reputation as a fishing country would be lost. If, however, anglers practised the simple gospel of the Fish Taggers’ Association—“ Fish for fun. not for meat”— then the fishing resources of this country would not be endangered.