SALMON IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12422, 16 April 1926, Page 4

SALMON IN NEW ZEALAND

SUGGESTIONS BY ENGLISH ANGLER SIR FRANCIS WEMYSS INTERVIEWED A DISAPPOINTING FEATURE Among Che passengers who sailed the other- day for London was Sir Francis Colchester-Wemyes, who, since December last, has spent most of his time in the Dominion fishing for salmon and trout. Sir Francis is an expert and enthusiastic angler, and a prominent member ancl ex-chairman of the Fly Fishers' Club, London.

Before leaving Wellington he was good enough to accord a “Times” representative an interview, in which he mode 6ome interesting remarks on' the acclimatisation of salmon in New Zealand. Sir Francis fished both in the South and the North Island rivers and lakes. He has been a salmon fisher for many years in England, Scotland and Norway, and was especially interested in the acclimatisation of Atlantic salmon in New Zealand, and made a special pilgrimage to the T© Anau district to see the results that have been achieved —results he says that are disappoining. There is no doubt whatever in lus mind that the Te Anau fish’ ore the true Atlantic salmon. The disappointing feature of the experiment is their small 6ize, and without dogmatising on the point, he believes the reason to be that they do not feed in the sea, as do the Atlantic salmon in the Mother Country. The salmon that run up the rivers in the Mother Country do not feed in fresh water, but there is indubitable proof that the Atlantic salmon feed in the lakes and rivers in New Zealand. 4 All the fish that he caught and examined had green beetles or other fresh water food in their stomachs. Sir Francis examined also the scales of a number of T© Anau 6almon and found that there was no difference indicated between their winter and summer feeding. In the Atlantic salnfon in their native habitat scale-reading shows a marked difference in this respect. The summer fish that he caught at the Te Anau outlet were full of undigested food —an unheard of ‘state in British rivers. The only conclusion he could come to therefore was that these salmon feed in fresh water and feed practically all the year round. It is, he says, quite possible that some go down the sea at the mouth of the Waiau, but do not stay loDg enough m the sea to get the rich feeding that tends to a great increase in size. In the British Isles and Norway the salmon, obeying a hereditary instinct dating back for thousands of years, look for a current that takes them to their sea feeding grounds, and as a general rule they come back to the river in which they were born in from two to four years. Apparently the Atlantic salmon from tne Waiau, when they go down to the sea do not find this current which their hereditary instinct makes them seek, and so come back up the Waiau, feeding as they run, to the lakes. If this idea is correct it would account for the evenness of the scale markings and the limited growth of the fish, which resemble grilse.

ATLANTIC AND QUINNAT SALMON Sir Francis is decidedly of k opinion that it would have been better had we, in New Zealand, confined out attention to the acclimatisation of the Atlantic salmon, which is both a better eportrtng fish and a better food fish than the quinnat. In reference to the recent comments American experts who visited New Zealand and expressed the opinion that it. would be well not to catch any quinnant for years to come, Sir Francis says that this might apply to netting by means of which large numbers would be taken, but not to fishing with rod and line, which would make practically ho difference to the yearly run. In regard to the fact that quinnat have grown to such a large size, Sir Francis explaned that quinnat feeds closer inshore and dees not, like the Atlantio species, go a long way out to sea. FUTURE EXPERIMENTS In regard to future experiments, Sir Francis expressed the opinion that it would be advisable not to stock other New Zealand rivers with fry from Te Anau, but to import ova from some of the British rivers, such as the Wye, in which there is a yearly run of heavy fish. In the Wye the average of the spring-run fish is sometimes as high as 201 b, and the § summer run as high as 171 b, whereas in the neighbouring river, the TTsk. the average is a great deal lower. It is as important to breed fish as it is cattle or horses from the best stock. So far it seems there is no accounting for the great difference in the size of the fish that run up different British rivers. TROUT FISHING Tn regard to our trout fishing, Sir Francis says it is better than any such fishing he had obtained in other countries, but it was not so good as he had been led to expect. The season, however, has been a poor one, especially in the Taupo and Botorua districts. During the whole of March the fishing both at Tatipo Lake and in the Tongariro River at Tokaanu has been poor in comparison with what it has been. Probably there will be a better run of fish in April and May.