"THE QUESTIONABLE QUINNAT."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 492, 27 April 1909, Page 8

"THE QUESTIONABLE QUINNAT."

(BY TELEGRAPH— SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) (it ™ 'iv Christchurch, jiprii 26. n„™ an. anglingcontributor of fl l • i, e i SS) 9° lltoi nptuously. of the unv ' • mS j quiiihat." iro !:o doubt, ho says, "tliafc this, ??r7hl PS f ?? a sporting''view, tlio .least sirablo of all, species of salmonidae, has bocomo firmly,established, and , tho 'question naturally arises: 'What shall we do with it?' Tho quinnat salmon-will; not take a'flv and only, occasionally ;: a , minnow/ This' rare occurrenco usually takes place, at :'the mouth or a : liver when ..tlio fish liavo- just arrived from the sea, for; afterwards, when thev .had glided further! and commenced to run up the tributaries they refuse to tako- notice of all angling hires. R believe that this salmon «as imported chiefly, for commercial reasons with an idea .of starting-a canning industry, in New-^ealand,- and it must bo tho prajer of all fishermen, that thoso concerned will can it quickly. It is a . ™Uni"iv Vn i Ct i i 4 uim 'at almost invariably dies after briefly arranging its family bnT wl % procedure will bo to catch it beforehand and put it in a can, for those wliich aro to bo- seen at the present time in the Waitaki and Oliau have apparently but a short expectation of life Long, emaciated _ kelt-likb brutes, sodden with want of condition and rotten with disease, they are working up stream in slowmoving . hundreds, and shortly, their lifeless remains; will float down to the sea. : It is not to be feared that the ascending swarms of quinnat sa mou will exhaust' tho food supply of tho trout. Hungry as they may loot. I think I am right in saying. that they do not iced on their upward journey, hut it is possible that.tho qumnats may communicate disease to tho . trout. : lit an. article in the Fieid, Colonel Haggard says* they can bo boded and given to tho liens;; for there is no bettor food for making hens' lay. Hero is a use for tho quinnat-salmon.-'To preservo our sport, let us givo him to tho hens, who will return us a thing of more value. It seems best_that by any means ho should bo kept out of our rivers, but at present , the.: way to that end is -somewhat obscure. 1 Per-' haps it might bo done by netting in tidal waters, though in that case a ranger would have to bo always on tho spot to seo that: captures of trout were at once returned to their native element. In any, case tho quinnat is not a desirable fish in a river/*