SALMON FISHING.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15979, 6 May 1924, Page 6

SALMON FISHING.

FIRMLY ESTABLISHED IN N.Z. SOME POSSIBILITIES. “It is not fanciful to say that in the course of a few years you will have hundreds of salmon coming into this fine estuary of yours, and you will catch hundreds of tons for market,” predicted Mr L. F. Ayson, Inspector of Fisheries, in the course of an interesting address to members of the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society. Mr Ayson outlined his, and the Department’s efforts, to establish both quinnat and Atlantic salmon in the Dominion’s rivers, and touched on the possibility of the fish providing another lucrative industry for New Zealand. In referring to salmon, he said that from the time he took up fish culture •to the conclusion of the acclimatisation of salmon in the waters of New Zealand, the question of their establishment had always been before him. lie had spent many hours seeking the reason why they would not take to New Zealand waters. The first shipment of salmon eggs was secured in 1868 from the Tweed in Scotland, and out of the 200,000 eggs obtained, there were no more than 40,000 apparently good eggs landed in New Zealand. Their experiments were unsuccessful, and between 1000 and 1908 a number of shipments were brought out, and the eggs invariably arrived in poor condition. In 1008 they managed to establish quinnat salmon in the Waitaki, Waimakarlri, Rakaia and Wairau Rivers. The Government after a time had instructed him to go ahead and look around for what he considered the most suitable rivers in the Dominion for Atlantic salmon. He did so and chose the Wairau River in the South Island. He imported three shipments of eggs in two lots of one million each from Great Britain and one of 250,000 from Canada. Greatest Sporting Fish. The outcome of this was that Atlantic salmon, which were the greatest sporting fish in the world, were firmly and successfully established in the waters of the Dominion. “I might state,” he remarked, “that in 1914, when I visited Wanganui, I said that once I got the salmon established in the South Island, the Wanganui River would be the first in the North Island to receive my attention.” The Wanganui River was, in his opinion, the next suitable river for this purpose in New Zealand. He pointed, out that he had kept his promise, and last year established a hatchery at Kakahi, in the upper reaches of the Wanganui Fiver, which was capable of handling from 750,000 to a million eggs and fry. Since then 600,000 eggs were hatched, and they were able to turn out a good healthy fry’. He hoped to distribute from one to two million fry in the tributaries of the Wanganui River in the near future. The speaker explained that the policy he had recommended his department to take in the matter of salmon was intense stocking of their rivers. This had been agreed to, and if only they could turn out 750,000 fry in a season, they would quickly have the work done. “In years to come you will have hundreds of anglers fishing in this river from here right up to its source. This is not fanciful, and I further say that .you will have hundreds of salmon coming into this line estuary of yours, and yo*u will catch hundreds of tons of these fish for market. You can depend that so long as I have anything to do with fisheries, I will devote mv energies to stocking this river. It may take five or ten years, but by the intense spreading of hundreds and thousands of the fish, they will come back in seven or cignt years,” pointed out Mr Ayson. Continuing, he said that the last time he went to the British Isles for a shipment of salmon eggs was in 1910. He secured lus shipment from Scotland. Ireland and Wales, as one was not permitted to take large quantities of eggs from the same rivers. Therefore. he had to get a million eggs from various Darts of Great Britain. The following year another million eggs were secured. The Quinnat Species* Referring to the quinnat species of salmon, he said that it was the finest and largest of the five kinds of salmon. Although not as great a sporting fish as the Atlantic salmon, it provided good sport. Last year in Otago anglers were provided with great sport, and when the season- again comes for quinnat, there will be crowds waiting for them to come in. Last year in the llangilata River, from 1500 to 2000 were caught, while elsewhere there were similar numbers caught, the average size of the fish being 171 b. “ There is no question but that -the quinnat fishing is going to be an immense industry in New Zealand,” he remarked. He then outlined the proposal to catch the salmon at sea for market. “We have an unlimited market in Australia for salmon. . . New Zealand in regard to Us fisheries in both sea and fresh water has an immense undeveloped asset. So far, we have not touched a -twentieth part of our fishing waters. . We have 90,000 square miles of fishing water under 100 fathoms, and the available trawling ground, t estimate, is 50,000 square miles. I have prospected outside of Wanganui and have found a good trawling bot- | tom. Therefore,. I cannot understand why any fishermen cannot make a success of trawling here. You have outside here an immense area suitable for fishing, and to use the Danish term, I say you should use your own fish and not bring it from other centres. •“ 1 have always looked upon Wanganui as a good fishing centre, and I cannot understand why it has not been developed,’ ’he remarked. The speaker proceeded to slate that it was an absolute fact that Ne,v Zealand was the only country in the world that had been successful in establishing both quinnat and Atlantic salmon away from their own homo. South America had tried it without success. The Argentine hod taken clown millions at a time, and so far had not obtained any results. “New Zealand," lie explained, “is the onlv country in the Southern Hemisphere in which these fish —which aro some ot' the finest —have been acclimatised.”