THOUSANDS OF SALMON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19866, 9 February 1928, Page 11

THOUSANDS OF SALMON.

fish in southern rivers.

ACCLIMATISATION SUCCESS.

IMPORTANT PROGRESS EXPECTED

[BY TELKGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday. To make a study of the conditions of the salmon fishing in the Waimakariri River the Marine Department has this year taken over one of the four licences issued for the netting of the fish at the moutli of the river. Mr. C. L. Ayson, assistant to the Chief Inspector,of Fisheries, is at present in Christchurch, and ho will take charge of operations. Netting will be carried out through the season in order that measurements and other particulars about quinnat salmon may be obtained for the department.

Mr. Ayson is sanguine that the industry may develop into something very important. "It is impossible to estimate the extent of the development of the ipdustry in the future as there is as yet no concrete evidence to go on," states Mr. Ayson, " but there is every possibility of the salmon fishing industiy becoming a very big thing." The department is investigating the matter from an angling point of view, as well as from an industrial viewpoint.

The systematic attempt to acclimatise quinnat salmon was first made in 1901 when Mr. Ayson's father, the late Mr. LF. Ayson, was in charge of the operations. The first definite evidence that the fish had returned to spaw"n was obtained in 1906, when one salmon was seen in the Waitaki. Liberations were originally made in the Waitaki and for that purpose an extensive hatchery was established at Hakataramea. Mr. Ayson has been in charge of that hatchery for some years.

The operations at Hakataramea have been very much curtailed during the last few years, &nd practically the only work done is to produce enough fish to stock tho rivers of the West Coast and the Wairau River in Marlborough. It is the opinion of Mr. Ayson that Marlborough and Nelson, -with all their sounds, most nearly approximate the conditions which quinnat salmon are used to in their original home, Canada. Definite evidence has been obtained that the fish are estabin the Wairau and Mr. Ayson will visit thai x'ivcr to ascertain the position. Mr. xVyson estimates the numbers of salmon running up the Waitaki in the last few years ~at ten 3of thousands. It is impossible to be any more accurate because of the length of time between the first appearance of the fish and the end of the migration. " When one recalls the one fish seen in 1906, and the number ascending the rivers at the present time, one is inclined to hope that the industry is only in its infancy," says Mr. Ayson.