MARKED FISH.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 256, 26 September 1940, Page 8

MARKED FISH.

“The society would like every angler in the district to keep a diary,” said Mr T. Andrews, ranger of the Palmerston North branch of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society yesterday, in speaking of the liberation of marked fish in local rivers. Not only would this bo of value in checking the dispersal of marked fish it would also provide considerable data of great value on fishing seasons for future generations. Some 4400 well-grown brown trout yearlings, from 4) inches to legal size, reared in Palmerston North, were liberated in August, mainly in the Manawatu between the Gorge and Massey College, and in tributaries along this section. A further number were placed in the Tiritea and Kahuterawa Streams. Some of these fish will have attained legal size in the coming season and others may be landed as undersized. The marking _ was carried out by threading a fine piece of silver wire through the base of the front of the dorsal fin, and through a very small plain or pink bead. While the dispersal of marked fish can be checked, the proportion of them caught will give valuable information on such liberations. If satisfactory reports are made by anglers in the coming season it is proposed to mark fish for two more years, with heads of "different colours to indicate the year. Anglers who fish in the Manawatu should enter the following particulars of each day’s angling in their diaries: Date, hours fished, stream and location, number and individual length, in inches, of all legal fish caught, number of undersized fish returned, number of marked fish of legal size taken, number of marked fish of below legal size returned and the colour of the small bead on each marked fish. Another advantage of keeping diaries would he to provide data on various fishing seasons often in demand by anglers. Such diaries would bo treated as confidential.