Trout Poisoned In Wairarapa Stream

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 1

Trout Poisoned In Wairarapa Stream

Rangers of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society will begin examining the Wairarapa Stream near Glandovey Road this morning in an effort to trace the source of a poison which has killed trout in the last few days.

Between 30 and 50 dead I trout, ranging from 2in to Sin, were found entangled in weed along the upper portion of the stream near Glandovey Road yesterday, and many more are believed to have floated downstream. Mr N.. I. Voyce, chairman of the fish committee of the society, said last evening that the examination of the stream would have been made yesterday had he known of the situation in time.

“If we can get on to it early enough we can put a ranger upstream until he finds live fish, and then he can start his examination below this point Someone may have been cleaning out a swimming pool and using detergents,” he laid.

“We could prosecute for this sort of thing but we don’t want to. W 7 e would rather educate people to be more careful in what they use. "When we approach these people and tell them what they have done they are usually horrified. They don’t think at the time of the damage they can cause,” said Mr Voyce.

The fish were found about 4 p.m. by George Cowper, a

secondary school pupil, of Glandovey Road, and Simon McKenzie as they were rowing a boat upstream. They said the fish appeared to have been dead for two or three days.