TROUT STOCKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23428, 18 August 1939, Page 12

TROUT STOCKS

HATCHERY OPERATIONS j features ' of' past year ' .; FOOD SUPPLY EXPERIMENTS DIFFICULTIES AND PROGRESS. [BY TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL RF.f'OTtTER ] WELLINGTON. Thursday • A survey Of last fishing season and of its w6rk in maintaining stocks is., .made in the annual report of the D 6-; partment of Internal Affairs, tabled .in. 'the House of Representatives. Of the , largor fish caught which caiVio under , the notice of departmental officers,, the heaviest was of 131b. lOoz. taken , from Major Jones' Pool in the Tongariro River, while one of 131b. Boz._ was taken from Hamurana. Of • the' 17 fish gi\*en special mention the smallest, was Gib. Stripping operations were' earned out during the year in the Hatchery Creek, Tongariro River, and at Lakes Okataina and Tarawera. Throughout both districts a very dry winter was experienced and at times the' run ■of trout, into the streams was Comparatively small. , K \ ' I A Recurring Difficulty This was most noticeable >in the Tongariro district and at times it was- . thought that difficulty would-he experienced in securing the required number of eggs, as largo numbers, of fish were spawning in the main stream. This difficulty had recurred over both last winter and the previous one, but had not had any detrimental effect on the naturally hatched fry, which appeared, to be as plentiful as ever. The ;total number 'of eggs taken at the Tongariro River hatchery was 6,745,000, while 2,315,000 were collected at Lakes Tarawera and Okataina. j Ova amounting to "1,990,000 were isold to-various acclimatisation socie- ' [ties; 150.000 ova were' exchanged with ■the South Canterbury" Acclimatisation - Society; 500,000 brown .trout ova were 'bought fronl the North Canterbury Acclimatisation and 50,000 fry were sold to the Tourist Department. , Many Inspections /Made

•i Many inspections of Jtrout were made during the winter months and it was : found that the condition •was such that ..general culling was not': necessary. At Lakes Okataina and Tarawera the fish were all" in excellent- condition after stripping the previous winter. The >, usual culling was carried out at the Tongariro River hatchery, 109 males vvjand 122 females being destroyed, iDiscussing food supplies,.the report ! states that in all the Rotorua lakes there was an exceptionally large batch of smelts; The endeavour to establish * the smelt in Lake Taupo was conl tinued and shoals of these fish had been- seen ih various parts of the takd.; * Owing ,to exceptional weather, both ; koura and smelt were very difficult to : net until the end of January; however, : 14,400 koura and 110,000 smelts were * successfully taken to Lake Taupo and '. planted in suitable localities between * Acacia' Bay and Tokaanu Wharf. . . * Observations t>roved that the 1 sinelt 1 had been established in Lake; Okaro I and a small consignment was planted in Ngahewa. An experiment. was.,being conducted in, the Tongariro hatchery ' dam witha yie^vio^..breeding'kou r 4. The new hatchmes'afe "Ngongotaha and Lake, Waikarftmoaha ; 'were 'put? into operation and-.in. both cases proved most successful,-'