ENEMIES OF SALMON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22131, 10 June 1935, Page 12

ENEMIES OF SALMON

EATEN BY PORPOISES COMPLAINTS IN ENGLAND The predatory habits of porpoises ban been the subject of complaint to the executive committee of the National Association of Fishery Boards in Britain. The porpoises are accused by the Tamar and Plym Fishery Board of the wanton destruction of running salmon in the River Tamar. Evidence is available, a representative of the Morning Post was informed, that porpoises have been seen as far as 16 miles inland from Plymouth, and that on occasions as many as five salmon out of seven in a haul hare been so badly bitten as to be unsaleable. The testimony has.also been secured of 'Rear-Admiral W. E. R. Martin, of Saltash, of an occasion when what he described as a school of porpoises chased and attacked a run of salmon "in a sort of collective and almost military or naval manoeuvre." On another occasion, Mr. W. W. Matthews, the clerk to the board, watched a porpoise with a salmon in its mouth being chased by other porpoises, finally eating the salmon on a mudbank in front of some fishermem who were casting their net. "The only action we have been able to take," Mr. Matthews stated, "is to provide a man with a motor-Taunch and a shotgun, so that he can shoot at the porpoises in the estuary. It is not possible for him to use a rifle, owing to the fact that the waters are under Admiralty control. "At the best a porpoise is not an easy target," he said, "and when a number arrive they will probably divo out of the estuary at the sound of a shot. The question is one of considerable local importance, in view of thrfact that as many as a hundred families are dependent on the net fisheries. We feel that we should be afforded the help of the sea fishery patrol vessels."