SHAGS AND EELS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 66, 11 December 1930, Page 10

SHAGS AND EELS

Enemies of Fish VIEWS OF SPORTSMEN Opinion that it was time war was declared on shags was expressed at a meeting of the council of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society last evening, when it was reported that shags shot on the Mangahao and Mangatainoka Rivers contained a number of trout. . “On one occasion,” wrote Mr. W. M. Manser, “I saw eleven shags go into the river, and while I was waiting for them to come within gunshot I saw five of them catch a fish each. When they rose I shot two, and one of them had a trout 12j inches long in it and .the other had five smaller ones. Five days later I shot one with six trout in it, and the fish ranged from sjin. to 7sin. I have never shot a shag with an eel in it. It is uot a question of whether shags eat trout, but how many a day. It would take too long to describe the stomach contents of all these shags.” Eels That Don’t Eat Trout. “No doubt the shag is very fond of eels, but as they are nocturnal fish he has difficulty in getting them,” wrote another sportsman. “His favourite eel is the common yellow belly, which is the most beautiful of the ten varieties that I know of. Of all the eels this one prefers the muddy black waters (where trout do not go), has the smallest mouth, and does not grow to a large size. They may take trout, but I have never yet found a trout in this eel’s belly. They like still water and mud, not gravel and rapids, so I conclude they are not the worst on trout ova. The big black eel with pro tending lips and nostrils which comes into the rivers in December and goes right up to the waterfalls, who hunts anything, trout, other eels, ducks, teal, etc., and reaches 751 b. in weight is the bandit and is generally too powerful for the shag. Alive but Injured Fish.

“In my opinion the shag if it has any regard for the trout’s welfare, is wasting his, efforts in consuming the wrong eel The shag hunts trout in daylight and hooks on to the trout’s tail about the adipose fin. Often the trout shakes him off or drags him off by going through roots. However, the trout is generally doomed. His tail goes black and becomes shrunken and paralysed, and appears to be poisoned in flesh and bone hy the poison carried in the carrion-hooked bill of the shag. If the stream is rapid that fish is carried out to sea and lost. If the stream is partly tidal the trout will stay in the deep, sluggish water till another shag or some wormer gets him. He may live for years, and even grow fat, but his tail will not grow and' will always be to him a useless atrophied appendage.”