MENACE TO SPORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 144, 21 June 1938, Page 4

MENACE TO SPORT

•» : SHAGS AND HAWKS STRONGER MEASURES Both the shag and the hawk were a direct and irrefutable menace to I the sport of fishing and shooting in ■ the Dominion, declared the Minister of • Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) when replying yesterday to a deputation which discussed with him the . consumption of young trout by the , shag. There was evidence that the • toll of the shag among trout and the toll of the hawk among native and game birds was great, said the Minis--3 ter, and measures stronger than those adopted during the past two years seemed to be necessary to curb the activities of the two birds. A return detailing the stomach contents of a large number of shags taken in Canterbury, Otago, Southland, and in the Mangaweka district was submitted to the Minister. It showed that 108 young trout were found in the stomachs of 54 shags shot at Peshangina and Mangawarariki. Some of , the trout were in length 3, 4, 9, 12, and 28 inches. In the stomachs of 153 shags killed in Southland 944 trout of 3£ to 15J inches were revealed; in the stomachs of 135 shags shot in Otago 739 trout of three to 15 inches in length were discovered. There were some fourteen other returns containing similar information. The Minister said the returns would make bad reading to all anglers.. He had had official returns also illustrating too clearly the heavy slaughter the shag was responsible for among the trout. They certainly actuated the authorities in the action taken concerning the bird. With the spirited cooperation of acclimatisation societies and others it was felt that a big inroad into the population of the shag could be made. Additional measures regarding the birds were under consideration.