MENACE TO TROUT

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 216, 8 June 1926, Page 8

MENACE TO TROUT

RENEWED CRUSADE AGAINST SHAGS REWARD INCREASED PROTECTION OF FISHERIES < Anglers at Rotorua and Taupo have observed lately that the shag, which, in a close investigation some time ago was found to be the transmitter of a worm parasite to some of the trout in the lakes, lias again begun to increase in numbers. The menace lias caused the Department of Internal Affairs to renew its crusade against the birds, and last night the Hon. R. F, Bollard announced that it had been decided to reintroduce the reward lor the destruction of the birds, and that 2s. 6d. was to be offered per head of those killed in the thermal district and at Lake Waikaremoana. Information as to the steps taken in the past to destroy the shag was given by Mr. Bollard. “When in June, 1907,” said the Minister, “it was discovered by a scientific investigation .that the shag was responsible for the appearance of a worm parasite in some of the trout, the Government commenced action against the birds and offered to pay Is. per head for all birds destroyed within the (Rotorua acclimatisation district. Apparently the bonus was not regarded as remunerative, for comparatively few birds were brought in. A further inducement was given to a number of men by supplying them with free ammunition, but results were still unsatisfactory. Later, men were specially engaged to destroy shaggeries, and a reward of 20s. per hundred was offered for shags eggs. In 1911 the price paid per head was raised to 2s. 6d., -with the very satisfactory result that on an average 1000 birds were destroyed annually in the thermal district."’ Raids on Rookeries, It was pointed out by the Minister that the results in the past of the raids on the rookeries specially organised by the Department with selected men had proved so poor that they were discontinued, and it was resolved to rely entirely on the bonus system. A further method was adopted by the sending of a departmental officer to the principal shaggeries during the nesting season to destroy as many eggs and young birds as possible. A. fair number of birds was destroyed bv that process, but the work proved difficult and not particularly successful, as the shags, when disturbed, sought fresh haunt’s. In 1924 the rate per head of shags killed in the Rotorua and Taupo districts were fixed at Is. 6d., but that inducement was not very satisfactory in securing a reduction of the birds. “The Department has reported,” said Mr. Bollard, "that of late the birds again appear to be on the increase, and, as it is stated, the price of Is. Gd. per head does not pay any person to go out shooting them. It has therefore been decided to again raise the amount to 2s. Gd. per head, in the hope that this increase will bear satisfactory results in the war of extermination on these pests. On this occasion the subsidy is also to be extended to shags killed at Lake Waikaremoana.”