TOMAHAWK LAGOON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22256, 8 May 1934, Page 11

TOMAHAWK LAGOON

TROUT-STOCKING QUESTION ATTITUDE OF THE SOCIETY At the meeting of the Otago Acclimatisation Society last night a petition signed by 110 anglers was received protesting against the society’s decision to discontinue putting stripped fish in the Tomahawk Lagoqn. It was contended that the argument that the fish deteriorated in quality when put in the lagoon was. not borne out by. experience. Members of the council said that the petitioners were mistaken in believing that the society had decided not to continue to place stripped fish in the Tomahawk Lagoon. No alteration in the society’s policy in that direction had been considered. The Otago Anglers’ Association wrote asking that the society should consider transferring 250 stripped trout up to 31b from the Leith to Tomahawk. The members of the association /would undertake to return all tags to the society. Mr S. H. Barnes submitted the following report on the question: —“ In the good times which followed the Great War, there was a considerable increase in the number of licensediolderg and also a great increase in the amount of fishing done. This had the effect of reducing the number of takeable fish, in the Otago waters. This fact, and the diminishing of the size of the rivers near Dunedin, caused many anglers to go to Tomahawk Lagoon for their sport, and to cope with. this situation the - society had adopted the course of transferring trout from the Leith at the stripping season to Tomahawk. This might appear to be a wise policy, but many complaints have been received regarding the quality of the fish, many of which have shown signs of disease and others loss of condition. ' “In an effort to prove the truth or otherwise of these complaints the device of ‘ tagging ’ was resorted to, and anglers were requested to return tags and particulars of fish taken. This is the only reliable way of securing the desired information, but anglers haye been slow to appreciate this, and the returns have been disappointing. In two years only 15 tags have been returned —mostly from three or four anglers. It was found in the cases reported that all the fish taken, with one exception, had shown a decided falling off in condition. With the small amount of data available it is unfair to make any definite conclusion about the matter. The society proposes to liberate a large number of tagged fish at Tomahawk this season, and it is hoped that better co-operation from anglers will be forthcoming.” It was decided ,to reply to the petitioners stating that there was no intention to discontinue putting stripped trout in the Tomahawk Lagoon, and to reply to the Anglers’ Association in terras of Mr Barnes’s report. It was also decided to embody Mr Barnes’s report in the annual report.