Salmon run

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 14

Salmon run

Sir,—ln “The Press” of June 27 there is a statement by Mr K. Fitzgerald, chairman of the fish committee of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, that there had been a big run of salmon in the Hurunui River this season. I have frequently fished this river at the mouth, and did not see anv big runs; quite the contrary. In fact, when I spoke to a member of the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries on duty, I was told that inspection of spawning grounds in late March, showed that no salmon had reached there by then. Could you please tell us when this good run of salmon took place and how many reached the spawning grounds. There are fishermen and women living jn this area who would like these questions answered. —Yours, etc., L. J. PARTINGTON, Cheviot. July 1, 1980. [Mr Fitzgerald replies: “The information on the salmon run in the Hurunui has been confirmed for me by Mr C. Hopkins of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries freshwater research division. The interim figures quoted

were 1200 approximately in the south branch and 900 approximately in the north branch. These figures and other data will be fully' reported in a later issue of the freshwater supplement to the ‘Catch’ magazine. I sympathise with the correspondent and many other anglers who did not witness these fish, but there were several spates in all of the salmon rivers during the season and it is. known that many fish run through on the tail end of a flood. Also the majority of salmon reach the spawning grounds during April and May and therefore the comments by the M.A.F. representative would have been correct A considerable amount of data on the salmon and trout runs in all of our rivers is collected by both M.A.F. and N.C.A.S. officers; this is fully reported in the ‘Catch’ magazine and/ or the annual report of the society.”]