FISHING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 6

FISHING NOTES.

FISH CONSERVATION. SOME AMERICAN VIEWS. i [exclusive to the tress.] fßj Black Gnat.] These Notes, which are written by a fisherman of long experience ancl considerable theoretical knowledge, will appear every Saturday. Letters containing news items or questions, and addressed "Black " Gnat," care of the Editor of The Press, will receive prompt attention each week. Game (ish conservation has become such a big matter nowadays as to bo almost, an international undertaking. The bad old days when streams and rivers had to depend on Nature alono for restocking with trout, salmon, and other fish, ore now definitely out-of-date, and we find man coming to the aid of Nature with fish hatcheries, nursery ponds, and cans for the distribution of unlimited fry, so that a stream or pond without fish of some sort is definitely outside tho "pail." In spite of all this aud even with science ranged upon the side of conservation, it takes a country or nation all its time to supply enough lish to go the rounds of the steadily increasing army of anglers who haunt our streams, rivers, and lake margins every season. That tho matter is causing some concern in America is patent from the fact that Mr Herbert Hoover, President of tho United States, has recently taken up the cudgels on behalf ot tho rights of the fisherman, having delivered an address to tho Izaak Walton League of America, entitled 'A Itomedv For Disappearing Game Fishevs," portions of which should prove of interest to every fisherman in New Zealand. Hero is the gist of his proposition : . Based upon the number of hsJnng licenses, issued in licensing States, the Bureau of Fisheries estimates that upward of 10,000,000 people now go fishing each year. Any calculation of Xo years ago would have shown that the army of anglers was then less than 1,000,000. Over the same period there has been a stupendous increase _ in motor-wrr production, so that to-day the car is regarded not as a luxury but as a necessity—a necessity which enables both man and boy to search loi sport in all the water within a radius of 150 miles, over a week-end, and to extend that radius to 500 miles during •summer holidays. Add to these two facts, namely the increase in number of both'anglers and cars, the improvement of methods of capture and tho cheapening, by mass production, or hailing tackie, and it is not difficult to see why the distance between the bites is greater than it formerly was. One American State, New Jersey, demands of each angler a return of his previous season's captures, as a condition precedent to the issue of a new license. From the returns obtained, it is found that the average angler catches 4.5 fish per season. Ims is admittedly far from being an ideal catch, particularly when one takes into account the minimum size limitof bin. I\lr Hoover considers that o0 tish pc" season per angler is the lowest that should be aimed at. Taking this figure as a basis, the ininimum ideal of a national catch would be 000,000,000 game tish. After stating this he leaves tlie ideal and analyses the facts. Uiese show that there are 291 fish hatcheries in the United States, from \vhicH 1 100,000,000 fry and fingerlings are annually liberated. There are as yet no life expectancy tables for young fish*similar to those which insurance companies have drawn up to human beings. Alaskan salmon fisheries' figures show, however, tnat it takes 'l5O fry to make one mature . lish. Applying this knowledge to nonmigratory game fishes lie finds that the enormous liberation of bureaucraticmothered frv can only be expected to provide l-3rd of a fish per angler or. looking at it in another way, 100 times as many fry would have to be liberated to achieve the desired result. Mr Hoover, appalled by the waste; which would arise from the liberation ot 165,000,000,000 fry, arranged for ins fisheries' officers to "carry out a series of experiments in the survival value ot fish of different ages. They found that a fish reared to 3in in length liad a <SO-50 chance of reaching maturity, it therefore followed that the present hatchery output would be sufficient to provide the required 500,000,000 fish per annum, provided the young fish were kept in nursery ponds until big enough to fend for themselves. Financially, too, the proposition was sound, for it> was found that fish could be raised to a length of 3in at a cost of one cent for four fish. * * * It js interesting to note that conclusions similar to these arrived.at by Hoover resulted from Professor Percival's study of the Oreti River in Southland. There the trouble was not so much the lack of fish as the small size of the fish. The professor, in a lecture given in Christchurch in December, 1930, expressed the view that tho increase in the number of anglers and the improved means of transit available to them resulted in the fish being caught before they grew up to tho size they formerly did. The extended use of nursery ponds, advocated by Hoover, has apparently . been much more popular in this country than in tho United States. However, even in New Zealand, the raising of fish to fingcrling size in ponds while now fairly general, seems likely to become more popular. -X- -A Tho survival value of fry will vary greatly according to tho nature of the ' stream or lake in which they are liberated. Judging from the figures of a Canadian ichthyologist, the number of fry required to make ono mature fish is nearer 'IOOO in tho average stream that 450, as stated by Hoover. In a state of nature where the balance has . not boon disturbed, one pair of mature t lish, despite successive spawnings, can ; be expected to produce only one. pair [ to succeed th'em. vf * ; The main run of quinnut has yet to enter tho rivers and so long as easterly weatlief continues it is likely to be , delayed. There are, however, a fair number of fish in the rivers and small bags have been taken at .the Rakaia mouth.. ■K . -X- ■¥: A very fine bag of eight quinnat, t totalling over 1301b, rewarded one fortunate Wuiniakariri angler last weekend. "X" -!>- -XThe autumn run of brown trout has commenced in the Selwyn where two anglers; fishing at night with a lure, secured 13 good trout early in the week. » • • The lower. Selwyn is at present very low and weedy, but. fish are commencing to rise well in the daytime.