THE PORTOBELLO FISH HATCHERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3035, 15 May 1912, Page 5

THE PORTOBELLO FISH HATCHERY.

INTRODUCTION OF HERRING OVA The report of Mr T. Anderton, the curator at the Portobello Fish Hatchery, for the months of March and April, has brougoc into prominence the question of the .ntrodt-.c-tion of herr'ng ova to New Zealand, whisti matter has been under consideration by the Hatchery Board and bv the Government for some time past. The work at the hatchery, in addition to the ordinary duties •which have been performed horn day. to day, has included the erection of new tank? and the experimental construction of various contrivances for filtering sea water.and fcr giving the necessary revolving motion to the glass plates on which the herring eggs will Be carried. Drawings to scale of the apparatus used bv Dr Williamson in the Scotch. Fishery Board's experiments have been received; and Mr Adams, the assistant curator, is engaged mailing the single boxes and fittings of almost the same design with which to experiment. If it is decided to send Mr Anderton Home this year to bring out herring ova, then the necessary appliances will be made at Portobello, as it ,will be much cheaper than getting it manufactured at Home. The question of attempting to introduce herring ova is at the present time before the Cabinet, and Mr ,Allport, secretary of the Marine Department, recently visited the station along with Mr G. M Thomson. M.P.. chairman of the board, in connection with this matter. The following oorrespon'dence 'explains itself: - Marine Fish Hatchery. Portobello, 2 7 th December, 1911. Dr E. J. Allen. Director Biolog.cal Laboratory, Plymouth, Dear Sir,—You av-j no doubt cognisant ©f the experiment carried out by Dr H C Williamson at the Scotch Fishery Board s Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen, on b?half of the New Zealand Government, in connection •with the retardation of the hatching of herring ova. These experiments were suggested by myself some vears ago, and the results have been communicated in the annual reports of the Fishery Board from time to time. In the 27th report (for 1908), published in 1910, at p. 100, Dr V\ 7illiamson shows that the period of incubation of the eggs of the herring can be extended to 50 days. As the avera,ge duration of the voyage of liners trading to New Zealand Li about 45 dav-3 from London to ono of our colonial ports, it would appear that as far as the time limit is concerned, the ova could be easily brought out to this part of the world. Dr Williamson's experiments as far as his own part is concerned appear to have been carried out carefully and with great attention to detail. But the method of obtaining the eggs and the transportation of them to the laboratory wero carried out in a very imperfect manner, as ft glance at p. 101. et seq. of the report shows. It is probable that had this work been done at sea by an expert the results would have been much more satisfactory than is the case But imperfect as they appear to to be. we think we are now justified in asking our Government to place a sum on the next year's Estimates sufficient to enable us to make a trial .shipment of ova. Our curator, Mr T. Anderton. has been steadily working away each season here with our native fishes, learning much about their spawning habits, development, and rearing of the fry. The station has been steadily improved, and has now a sufficiency of ponds and tanks to enable us to manipulate successfully any ova which aro brought to it. What we propose to do now is to send Mr Anderton to the Home Country so that he may personally supervise the col-, lection of the herring ova. and make ail arrangements for their shipment and carriage to New Zealand. The herrings experimented on by Dr Williamsor. were obtained at Anstruther, in the Firth of Forth; many of them being dead for some hours when the ova and milt were pressed from them, and the glass plates with the adherent ova were kept from 7£ to 19 hours in barrels of (unchanged?) sea water before thoy reached the laboratory at Aberdeen. We are of opinion that if the ova and milt oould be obtained from live fish, and the plates with the ova could be kept in constantly renewed sea-wate r until they were put on board the outward bound steamer, the chances of the experiment succeedinsr would be very muoh increased. Even if all these early parts of the experiment were successfully carried out, there would still be sufficient difficulty in the voyage out to tax the skill, patience, and ingenuity of those in charge. But it would enormously minimise these difficulties if Mr Anderton oould obtain the ova at Plymouth, and my object in writing to yoii is to ask you whether this oould be done, and how far you could facilitate the success of the esKriment by utilising the appliances of your Aion in doing so. The preseut is

that Mr Anderton would leave New Zealand towards the end of the year 1912, that, he would visit the Plymouth station. Port Erin laboratory, Aberdeen, etc., and perhaps a station or two on the French or Belgian coasts, so as to acquire as much preliminary information as possible. In conjunction with the New Zealand High Commissioner's office, he would also make all arrangements necessary for the transport of the ova to this part of Naw, Zealand. Then if the ova can be obtained at Plymouth, say in February or March, he would make the further arrangements requ ; red to obtain them and to get thevri transferred to the outgoing: steamer. At the same time he would seek your co-opera-tion to obtain a further supply of lobsters and ediblo crabs, so as to replenish our present stock. Further, if it can be managed, and he 'can obtain the_ necessary assistance on board to enable him to control the supply of cooled ocean water for the various tanks and boxes, he might try to bring out some live fish —turbot or haddock. We are quite, alive to the difficulties incidental to bringing- out both herring ova and live fish on such a long voyage, and we would riot be daunted if the first experiments were not successful. At the same time we believe that Mr Anderton will achieve success if it can be done, and _we hope to give him every assistance possible from thus end. I would be felad if you can add to the obligations you have already laid us under by giving us any information you possess which would assist our project. Dr Chilton, whom I hope you have become acquainted with x ere this, can give you a good deal of information about our hatchery and our curator, as he has worked dowr. here and knows the place intimately. Thankinor you in anticipation.— I am, etc., G. M. Tnoiisox, Chairman M.F.H. Board. • To this letter Mr Thomson has now received the following reply: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, February 15. G. M. Thomson Marine Fish Hatchery and Biological Station, Portobello. Dear Sir, —I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th December with reference to the proposed attempt to transfer herring spawn to New Zealand. In reply I beg to state that it will give us great pleasure to assist Mr Anderton in any way we can~~when he is in this country. I think by far the most satisfactory way would be to have the ova pressed from the fish and fertilised by an expert at sea immediately the fish are caught. It would be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to get herrings which were ripe or very nearly ripe living in tanks in a healthy condition. Under any circumstances the herring: is a difficult fish to bring in alive, and all fish are especially difficult to establish in the tanks when they are in the spawning condition. In order to ensure a supply of healthy spawn to catch a steamer sailincr on a particular day, it would be necessary to have two or three men on different boats collecting for, say, a week beforehand. The spawn collected by all the men could be kept in running water in the laboratory tanks, and then the best selected for transport on the day the steamer sailed. The weather renders the fishing bo uncertain that it would never do to rely i upon getting -spawn on any one particular j .day. If the day before the sailing of the 6teamer was favourable the spawn collected on that day could be sent, but if that failed some would be in hand which had been got at an earlier date, and the spawn which was considered healthiest could be sent. I am afraid that February a«d March would be too late to obtain spawning fish off Plymouth. December and January are the two months, when herring spawn off the port. If that is too early and the experiment must! bo made in March or April, I think you would have to jro to the Shetlands or North of Scotland. We should be glad to help in securing the supply of crabs, lobsters, and other fishes which* Mr Ajiderton would try to brin<r out. —I am, etc., E. J. Allen,