S.I. Salmon Rivers Slowly Being Lost

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30512, 6 August 1964, Page 20

S.I. Salmon Rivers Slowly Being Lost

North Island anglers were' sitting back and watching the salmon fishing rivers in the South Island being systematically destroyed, said Mr D. J. Hughey. The North Island anglers, who possessed no salmon of their own, were watching the South Island fishing fraternity taking a “father of a bashing,” he said.

Mr Hughey said he had decided to give the real salmon story to the newspapers because he planned not to seek re-election as supernumary member of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society when his term expired at the end of the year. At the same time, he would automatically relinquish his position as the society’s delegate to the South Island Salmon Committee.

More S.I. Anglers

Mr Hughey described the North Island anglers’ treatment of South Island anglers as “dog-eared,” when it came to fish conservation and management.

“We have a lot less population than the North Island, yet here we are paying out £77,000 a: year in fishing licences compared with the North Island annual receipts of £50,000,” he said.

Mr Hughey said that already two of the South Island’s best salmon rivers—the Waftaki and the Clutha—had been virtually closed off to spawning, by the erection of hydro-electric dams. There were five other principle

South Island salmon rivers, that all bar one had been badly affected by irrigation and stock races, where losses of migrating salmon smolts occurred. Fish-Ladders

“In the home-country of the salmon—the Pacific coast of North America—whenever a dam or river obstruction is built, the principals of the works are bound by law to install fish-ladders or fishways to preserve the fish stocks,” said Mr Hughey. “In New. Zealand the most popular line seems to be to leave the salmon to fare as best as they can for themselves, which inevitably means a big reduction in their numbers.

“For the last 100 years, the Southland Acclimatisation Society has worked in trying to establish a run of Atlantic salmon in the Waiau. But this is doomed to absolute failure as soon as the Manapouri power project is completed.” At present the only intact or untouched salmon fishing river in the South Island was the Waiau. The Rakaia and the Rangitata were reasonably good. The Rakaia spawnings would be something like 4000 fish a year in its stable streams and the Rangitata would probably be of much the same order.

Mr Hughey said that the Waimakariri would have something under 1000 salmon spawning in its stable waters and the others would have lower numbers. “We would like to see those figures multiply many times,” he said. “We have stopped fishing near any spawning waters, in an endeavour to improve the situation. We have stopped the sale of salmon, which is quite a big thing.”