TROUT FOOD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 30 March 1931, Page 7

TROUT FOOD

; QUESTION OF SUPPLY FRESHWATER RESEARCH SCHEME Some particulars were given to a Christchurch “Press” reporter by the Chief,.lnspector of Fisheries, Mr A. E. Hefford, of the investigations ■of the food supply of trout now being made with funds provided by the New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies’ Association. How far the food supplies in any liver would go, he said, had never been ascertained. That was one of of the objects of the fresh-water research scheme. “I am the chairman of the committee which has been set up,” said Mr Hefford, “and 1 am very keen on the scheme, because I believe we shall 'getresults.” The committee was going into the question of fish in fresh uiater, mainly trout, and at present two ‘investigators were working for it, one in the Canterbury and the other in the Wellington district.. The scheme had really grown from local beginnings until it had assumed the dignitv of a Dominion-wide undertaking'. The Wellington Acclimatisation Society- had instituted a Research Fellowship,' and had appointed f a man to investigate the conditions in the rivers in its district. Then the Canterbury Society had undertaken a similar work in this district, and Mr A. W. Parrott, of Canterbury College, had done the first work in the direction indicated, concentrating on the growth of fish. He had continued this work for the Zealand Acclimatisation Societies’ Association.

POPULAR ERRORS Practical ffesults in definite policies had not so far been achieved, but many old errors had been cleared up. For instance, it was once- popularly believed that a better trout supply could be obtained by releasing bulliej in certain waters. The problem was by no means as simple as this; it was one of acclimatising organisms in water where the trout could feed on them.. Shrimps, prawns, and similar trout food had been placed in waters, with the object of increasing the number of trout, but no proper observations had been made of records kept of the results, and whether or not they could reproduce themselves 'under the new conditions had never been ascertained. For the propagation of May-flies, which were an important trout/food, to give another instance, a certain speed of current was necessary; on the other hand, molluses or fresh-water snails could live only, in slow-moving water and not in the swift rivers which were the natural habitat of trout. It was the old story of the rabbit, the stoat, and the weasel; those who introduced them had no idea of what the ultimate results would be. Behind the investigation work was the

object of ascertaining what happened to fish in different, waters, and what were the factors woi'king for and against the tH '° UL I AID OF SCIENCE

The object of fresh-water research was to study 'the conditions iiv relation to the organisms which occurred . there. Science” must give light and guidance, for . without its aid the results were dubious. Mr Hefford drew the reporter s attention to the Report on Fisheries for the year ended 31st March, 1930, in wilicii the following paragraph occurred : ■ . “It is clear that the activities of a few men who are expert in the art of hatching and catching fish are not going lo provide all that is requisite tor the well-being of our fresh-water fish, cries. There is, it may be said, no lack of amateur' advisers on problems connected with these fisheries —advisers whose confidence and assurance are in proportion to their ignorance of fundamentals. Some of these prescribe putting in more fry us the sole requirement for the improvement of fishing, regardloss of the question as jo whether there exists suitable and sufficient food supplies for the proper nourishment- of these fry and the fish into which .they will grow. Others advocate the introduction of trout food—shrimps from Samoa, snails from England, bullies from a neighbouring stream, unmindful of the problem as to whether these introduced species would be able to increase and multiply.”

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