SALMON INCREASE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 10

SALMON INCREASE

I ATLANTIC AND QUINNAT I VERY FAVOURABLE OUTLOOK LARGE AND WELL-CONDITIONED The chief inspector of fisheries, Mr. A. E. Hefford, has returned to Wellington from a visit to the salmon hatcheries at Te Anau and Hakataramea, and reports favourably on the outlook for the increase of both Atlantic and quinnat salmon. Lake Te Anau is where the Marino Department lias, its hatchery for Atlantic salmon culture. In 1931, states Mr. Hefford, the winter was notable for a succession of floods, which caused damage to the traps set up for the capture of salmon, and led to the escape of a largo proportion of the* fish, which, with the river in flood, were able to swim over the obstruction erected to prevent their passage and thus force them into the trap. This winter has been quite the reverse. Lake Te Anau, and the rivers flowing into it, are at a lower level than they have ever been known to be. Under such conditions, the run of both salmon and trout to their desired spawning places in the upper reaches of the rivers is checked—tho fish being averso to move except when a certain amount of concealment is afforded by the depth and turpidity of the water.

A very remarkable spectacle, said Mr. Hefford, was provided by the presence of about 300 fish of unusually large size—mainly brown trout, with some Atlantic salmon and one or two rainbow trout among them —which waited in a deep pool for the long-delayed fresh which would induce them to travel up the river; and, as the fish hatchery staff hoped, into tho trap awaiting them some few hundred yards higher up.

"The water was crystal clear," said Mr. Ilefford, "and tlfc 'sight of this great shoal of fish, as seen from the high bank, was one which rivalled that of the crowd of rainbow trout seen at the Fairy Spring, Rotorua." A subsequent fresh has since caused these fish to movo up into the trap, with the result that a million eggs have been taken; but it was found that most of the salmon had already spawned in the lower part of the river. The spawning season at Hakataramea has been notable for a considerable run of quinnat salmon of unusually large size. It was said to be the second largest run of salmon into the Hakataramea since the introduction of this species. The salmon taken in the hatchery trap at Hakataramea, as well as those caught by rod and line before the fishing season closed, were the biggest and best-condi-tioned fish that have ever been seen in this country. Besides the record fish of 501b., a number of salmon weighing from 421b. to 481b. have been landed by anglers. In the higher tributaries many enormous fish have been seen on the spawning beds or lying dead as the result of the post-spawning mortality which is the rule with this species of Pacific salmon.

"If the conditions are favourable for the natural hatching of the ova, and for the nourishment of the resultant fry," remarked Mr. Hefford, "the 1932 breeding season should ensure a good stock of this year's brood, and a promise of a correspondingly favourable fishing season three or four years hence."