AFFECTING TROUT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 3 June 1930, Page 4

AFFECTING TROUT

CHANGES IN RIVERS (By Telegraph—Special to "The Mail") CHRISTCHURCH, 2nd June.

Mr A. D. Hefford, Chief Inspector "of Fisheries in New Zealand, told a reporter that he thought the claim made by. members of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society that trout were becoming smaller and" were developing into saltwateil fish was, generally speaking, true. He said that tendencies in this direction had been noted by some observers for. some time. There Was probably no simple reason, but a com-; bination of a number of circumstances* could probably be held responsible, Many, rivers for instance had changed their character, and had .deteriorated as fishing rivers. The clearing of bush, and the draining of swamps had made these rivers more liable to sudden flood, and hence not congenial to the fish. In addition animal life in the rivers had changed. There were not so many insects available for.food for fish because of the depreciations of imported birds, and the whitebait, for a number of reasons, did not now run up the rivers in the same numbers as in tlie old days, when the rivers were more or less constant and the food supply could be relied on. There were plenty of fish in the rivers nowadays, however. When the rivers were altered and there was not the food in such abundance, there was a tendency for big fish to make down to the tidal waters, such' as estuaries and lagoons, where they were not subjected to the same handicaps. ;