QUINNAT SALMON

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1929, Page 7

QUINNAT SALMON

SPREAD IN SOUTHERN lUVERSS

INFLUENCE OF ANTARCTIC.

WELLINGTON, October 1

Good repoits regarding extended spawning areas for quinnat salmon in South Island rivers appear in the annual report of -the Inspector of Fisheries.

The spawning run of quinnat salmon in the Waitaki and its tributaries in the winter of 1928 was judged to lie the biggest which has yet appeared. The Ahuriri and Otam.nta.ta rivers -especially held considerable numbers of fish, and salmon were seen spawning in small creeks whore they had never previously been seen. Increased numbers Were also reported to be present in the waters 'of the upper Clutlia, especially in the Motukituki tributary and .in the Hunter and Dingle rivers at the head of Lake Hawea.

A few de'iu'.ito eases of quinnat spawning in the Wairau river, Marl- ™ borough, wore observed in the 1928 sea. 1 on, indicating that the fry that have been planted yearly since 1921 have produced a certain return of a adults. Results have not come up to vv the expectations entertained when n the stocking of this river was under--11 taken. There are two sets of condi--3 tions, either of both of which may 1 have been'mainly concerned in pro--1 during a ; relatively unsuccessful re- * suit from this experiment. Maori * Creek, where the. hatchery is loeat- ’ ed, flows into Timms Creek, which P joins the- Wairau river in its middle or lower course. The upror tribu- ' tarios of the Wairau, which would probably afford more suitable and ’ more ample feeding grounds for the " young quinnat have thus never been stocked. This ma-v have limited the number of “smnlts” which would survive to make their wav to sen. However. stall's the Fisheries Inspector, he did not think this could have been a ihvisive factor. iTt appears more probable, that conditions in the sea off Marlborough are loss suitable for flio species than is the case off the coast of Canterbury and Otago. It is known that off the south-eastern -oasis of the South Island the water in the sea. is of Antarctic origin. Tliofe is a general' set or drift in a north-easterly di reef.ion of cold water from till' south, and this water produces the prevailing conditions in the sea off the Otago and Canterbury coasls,. where; quinnat have been established lor some years. t Tt seems clear from - the Dana’s observations

that the present distribution of qninn.'it salmon off t.lio New Zealand coas's coincides with the occurrence of practically nnmixed .Antarctic water, with fits characteristic physical and chemical qualities. Not a single individual of the quinnat speci.es has ever been planted in a Canterbury stream, yet Canterbury rivers now provide the, best quinnat fishing in the IDluruinion, the species having mi "rated to their mouths from the tVaitaki, where flic original fry were planted. The Wairau has been fairly generously stocked, and yet shows no appreciable run of fish. ' The inference is that it is probably too far north, outside the influence of the purely Antarctic water which attracts the bulk of the species.