THE WHITEBAIT

Hokitika Guardian, 16 November 1931, Page 6

THE WHITEBAIT

; -A' SPAWNING ■ HABITS' " • ' PROTECTION 'REQUIRED. WELLINGTON, November 12. “Why have not some steps been taken to make use of the knowledge gained regarding the spawning habits of whitebait in . reu;u:d to the- coining spawning season?” said a gentleman who has taken some pains to ascertain the' possibilities of minor industries in the Dominion,/to a reporter. “Accounts have been published showing that valuable research work lias been done, the results obtained upsetting erroneous suppositions held for many years. It has been established that these delicious little fish spawn on the herbage at high-water mark in the tidal waters of the larger streams, and that, apart from the numbers of spawn destroyed by being stamped into the mud by cattle-—over five thousand have been counted' in a space less than that which would. be covered by a schoolboy’s cap—the cropping of the grass and other' vegetation on the spawning grounds removes the herbage to which the spawn adheres, and without which 'the majority of the eggs drift out again with the tide. As the Whitebait have been found to spawn only during exceptionally high tides, depositing the eggs along a very narrow -strip of river frontage, the grazing that would be lost to oniy a f ew acres wquld amount to only a lew •acres 'if the spawning grounds ;were fenced off.

“It is confidently asserted as the result of recent research that if the marshy strips along the river banks which constitute the - only spawning grounds were allowed t° retain their jinn ura I features and were not trampled by horses and cows, the whitebait, though pollution and other causes might prevent them from attaining their former numbers, would certainly increase greatly. This is one of the minor - but valuable industries that should be nursed in a country which has -so few, more especially as the toothsome nature of the fish causes it to be diligently pursued by all and sundry.