MENACE TO TROUT

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20098, 29 November 1930, Page 19

MENACE TO TROUT

SHAGS CAUSE DAMAGE. | l COMMENT ON INVESTIGATIONS. ! ihoro no do'.ibt that from the j fisherman's point of view shags are a j peet, said Mr D. Hope, curator for ' tho Canterbury Acclimatisation So- J c,< -'t.y, commenting yesterday <>n the I report of investigations cnrried out in Otago regarding damage done by them j to trout. "Tho shag is naturally a fish-enter, and it follows that whatever fish ther'3 are in areas whore shags are feeding, will suffer from their attacks. I Ley have always been a menace to trout, though not to such an extent as is frequently affirmed, and the position cannot bo said to bft acute.'' llcsults of any investigations of the stomach contents of shags depended on the area in which the observations were made, said Mr Hope; and in "lie neighbourhood of the shag rookeries, usually well up in tho rivers, where •there were large numbers of small trout, a great deal of damage »as done. In places like Lake Ellesmere, where the trout were hrrge and eels were plentiful, shags lived to a considerable extent on the latter, but iri the tipper streams where there were j many small trout and few eels, they , lived almost exclusively on tho trout. , "Several Acclimatisation Societies j offer bounties for shags' heads," Mr j Hope stated, "hut no steps have teen j taken to exterminate them from their j rookeries it) the hills. However, they are no more plentiful now than in the j past, and not such a menace as they j are made out to be. Trout still rise, in spite of them." [ Fairly Extensive Damage. "ihey nro certainly a menace,'' said i °'. le ''"star, who has had experience ol fishing in Canterbury and elsewhere for over 30 years. ''l have frequently i seen them come down while I have j been sitting close at hand, and take | trout from pools where they may have ■ bo«'n trapped by receding waters, or [ from the streams themselves. Damage | is lairl.y extensive in Canterbury, and j more in the Upper Sehvyn than anywhere else I know, where at | Boyle's and Chamberlain's Fords shags | congregate in large numbers. Thoy I do of course go for eels, but trout are much more easily scon, and where j the fish aro plentiful they do a very ; great amount of harm." f Some years ago it bad been Bug. ' posted, ho said, that tho shags should ! be attacked at their breeding place* j and shot from their rookeries, and u > certain number of fishermen still shot them when they had the chance. Thfrv were, however, difficult to shoot, and there was the possibility of travelling many milcus in search of them. "Shags have always done harm to trout, and they will always continue to do so," he sai<l. "If they are not exterminated. li, means that the supply of fish must bo kept up by Acclimatisation societies, so that rivers will be well stocked for anglers."