NEW ZEALAND TROUT

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 133, 3 December 1919, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND TROUT

INQUIRY INTO DETERIORATION.

FINE ASSET ENDANGERED.

Inquiries Tnto the deterioration of the trout of New Zealand are being made bv Dr R. J Tillyard, M.A., B.Sc , P.L.L.8., F.E.S., Linnean Macleay Fellow . in Zoology in the Sydney University. Dr. Tillyard has visited the lakes and rivers in the Rotorua, Tarawera, and Taupo districts, and, about a week hence, will leave for'Dunedin to visit a number of the trout lakes and streams of th fl South Island. He will return to Rotorua district inFebruary, and will make further investigations there before returning to Australia. The report which ho will furnish to the Government of New Zealand at a later date will deal primarily with the insect foods of trout, but it is also expected that he will make, important suggestions for the scientific control of ,the trout which form such a great, attraction to fishermen from all over tho world.

While not prepared to discuss in de.tail his investigations as far as they have gone, Dr. Tillyard stated ' that he was very much impressed with the need for immediate application of strict scientific principles to the trout fisheries. In default of this being d#ne there was a grave danger of further deterioration m the fish. The food was the real problem ; in fact, the country was in very much the position of the man with 1000 acres upon which he placed 20,000 head of cattle. Potentially thg country had the finest fishing grounds in the world, and, actually, the Tongariro was the finest trout stream he had ever fished.

Dr. Tillyard intends lecturing before the Philosophical Society, his subject being the neuropt-eroid insects (dragon flies, may flies, stone flies, etc.) which provide the trout with the major part of their food. The visitor is an interesting speaker, and will hj^ve a variety of living specimens to show his audience. Ifc is possible that he will give further lepture3 upon his return to Wellington, from the south.