With Rod and Line.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 9, 1 March 1911, Page 10

With Rod and Line.

THE COMING OF THE TROUT.

By

MAJOR BOYD-WILSON

TROUT are now so abundant in nearly every river and stream in New Zealand, and continue season after season to afford such excellent sport, that it requires a strong effort of the imagination to realise that only 44 years have elapsed since the first trout was hatched in the virgin waters of the Dominion. The introduction of salmonidae to Australasia will long rank amongst the highest achievements of acclimatisation, and a short retrospect of the early efforts to introduce trout and salmon may prove of interest not only to the fishermen but also to the naturalist and general reader. Before the advent of the trout, fresh water fishes were sparsely represented in New Zealand, the only indigenous species being the eel, the smelt, and a species of native grayling, besides some small fry such as bull-heads, etc. The early settlers soon recognised that the riverine system of their adopted country seemed to be admirably adapted to the well-being of trout and salmon, and as early as 1852 an attempt was made by a Mr. Boccius to transport salmon ova to Tasmania. At that time hardly anything was known of the transportation over long distances of fish ova, and the method adopted by Mr. Boccius was somewhat primitive, as it consisted of placing each ovum in separate meshes of a fine gutta percha sieve; the sieve was then immersed in water, which was changed every six hours, but no provision was made to keep down the temperature of the water by ice, so it is not surprising to find that by the time they reached the Tropics the ova had all expired. Mr. J. A. Youl was one of the fust to bring scientific methods to bear op the problem, and it is largely owing to this gentleman’s perseverance, in the face of almost insuperable difficulties, that success was ultimately attained, and trout and salmon ova successfully introduced to the Anti podes. It was in 1854 that Mr. Youl commenced in England experiments designed to discover how long the development of ova could be delayed by artificial means, and the result of six years’ work was the discovery that at a temperature of 35deg Fahr, ova would retain a healthy vitality for 140 days from the date of fertilization. The first shipment that Mr. Youl made was in 1860. He shipped by the s.s. Curling, sailing on the 26th of February, 30,000 salmon ova; an arrangement of swing trays was fitted up. gravel was laid in the bottom of each tray, and on the gravel the ova was placed; a stream of water, cooled by contact with ice, was made to flow over the ova, and 15 tons of ice were stacked in the ice-house of the steamer. The supply of ice was insufficient, and by the time Hie steamer reached latitude S. 29deg. 52min., the last of the ice had melted and with its melting the last of the surviving ova expired. Although unsuccessful in its main object, this shipment showed that it was possible to get ova alive through the Tropics, and so impressed were the Governments of Tasmania, Victoria, and Southland (New Zealand) with the possibilities of acclimatising salmonidae that they voted £3OOO, £5OO and £2'oo respectively to be expended on further attempts to bring out salmon ova. Mr. Youl was appointed to supervise the work in England, and breeding ponds were constructed on the Plenty River, in Tasmania for the. reception of a successful shipment of ova. Mr. Youl, anxious to do all in his power to make the next shipment a success, visited fish-breeding establishments in Scotland and Ireland, and studied the methods by which they then seht ova over short distances; he also went to France for the same purpose, and then, for the first time, saw a method of packing ova in damp moss. The result of all bis researches pointed to swing trays with a cooled stream of water passing over them as promising the l>est results, and 80,000 aalmon «va were pheked in

this manner, and sailed in March, 1862, in the s.s. Beautiful Star. As an experiment, Mr. Youl packed 300 ova in damp moss contained in a small pine box perforated top and bottom. The voyage was less successful than that of the Curling two years before, for an alarming proportion of the ova died through concussion caused by the rolling of the vessel, and the ice melted at an unprecedented rate, the fast of the ice disappeared in lat. S. 22 degrees, and with it all hopes of any ova reaching Tasmania. The wooden box when examined was found to have been the most successful method, for the ova packed therein had travelled much better than that on the trays, and only the melting of the ice caused the death of those thus packed. The failure of this shipment caused much disappointment, and everybody except Mr. Youl over-looked the significance of the moss packing. So convinced was that gentleman that he was on the track of the right method that he continued experimenting in 1863. The VVenham lee Company courteously placed some of their ice houses and refrigerators at his disposal, and he procured 5,000 fertilized salmon ova, which he packed in wooden boxes filled with sphagnum moss. These boxes were placed amongst blocks of ice, and both ice and boxes buried under two feet of sawdust. The boxes were opened at intervals ranging from 65 to 120 days from the time they were packed, and the surprising and satisfactory discovery made that the ova were alive and healthy, in spite of having had no water running over them; a good proportion of the ova eventually hatched out. The result of the experiments came as a great surprise to the scientific men. in England, and Mr. Youl was now confident that success -would at last attend his attempts to send living ova ; to Australasia. The experiments had created some sensation at home, and when Youl was looking out for a ship to carry hi» precious freight. Messrs. Money, Wigram and Sons, in a most generous manner placed a space of fifty tons in their clipper-ship, Norfolk, at his disposal, free of charge. 109,000 salmon ova were packed in pine boxes perforated at top, bottom and sides, in sphagnum moss; above and below the moss were layers of crushed ice. At the last moment Mr. Youl received two most important gifts. One was from Mr. Francis Francis, who sent two lots of trout ova (fario Ausonii). one taken from Mr. Spicer’s mill at Alton, on the way. the, other from Mr. Thurlow’s mill at High Wycombe, Bucks.; while Mr. Frank Buckland collected ova from Admiral Keppels water on the Itchen, and forwarded them to Mr. Youl as a gift from the Admiral. The combined number, of these ova was 3,000, and it is from this ova that the original Tasmanian and New Zealand trout are descended. The Norfolk made a prosperous voyage and arrived at Melbourne on April 15, 1864, and an examination of- the boxes showed that a . large proportion of the ova was still living. The boxes and ice were at once transhipped to H.M.O.S. Victoria, and on the 20th April she dropped her anchor at Hobart town with the. valuable freight which had been the subject of so many hopes and fears. The boxes were ferried up the Derwent. and carried strung on poles, to the breeding ponds on the Plenty which had so long been waiting for them. The ova was carefully unpacked and placed in the ponds, and on the 4th May. 1864, the first trout that had ever existed south of the line, was hatched, and that date may, therefore, be regarded as the birthday of Australasian trout. My next article will deal with the introduction of trout frohi Tasmania into New Zealand, and will show how they were gradually acclimatised in this' country. Note. —I' have to acknowledge the assistance I have received in compiling this sketch from Spachman’s “Trout in New Zealand* and Arthur’s “ Brown Trout in Otago.** XTo be Continued.),