SALMON IN CANTERBURY RIVERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19465, 28 April 1925, Page 4

SALMON IN CANTERBURY RIVERS.

RUN NOT AS GOOD AS EXPECTED. FISH BADLY MUTILATED. (From Ooe Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, April 27. Quinnat salmon ar© not running in the Canterbury rivers so well as was expected. Going on the theory that every fourth year produces a big run and every third year a moderate one, this year should have had a good moderate run. Th© fish aA’6 not only much fewer in number, but are also on an average 51b lighter than in previous years. . „ , Mr A. E. Smith, an enthusiastic fisherman, who has been watching the salmon in tho Rakaia and other rivers for some years, told a reporter this morning that in addition to the poorness of the run, there was, another feature about the fish this season which was mystifying anglers. Approximately 95 per cent, of the salmon that came up the rivers from the sea were very badly scarred and bitten as if by some predatory fish, which had been lured to the river mouths by the arrival of the quinnat. “In previous years,” remarked Mr Smith, “the percentage of bitten fish has been negligible, but this season the matter is serious, I have not seen a fish taken out of the water in the Rakaia which was not gashed along the. underside with two deep wounds, which look as if they _ had been caused by long, sharp teeth. Some of these wounds are quite raw and fresh. In the fish I caught I saw one fish which bore scars over four inches long and half an inch deco. It is hard to say what has caused this. It may be sharks, por-' poises, of barracoota. It is impossible to be definite. The probable enemy, however, is some fish which possesses long, sharp teeth, and the three species mentioned all have long, sharp teeth.