WHITEBAIT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3965, 6 July 1929, Page 2

WHITEBAIT.

FIRST OF THE SEASON CAUGHT YESTERDAY. The first whitebait of the season was caught at the Heads yesterday, about five pounds being netted. The ’bait found a ready sale locally at G/- per lb. In conversation yesterday with Mr. Hans Andresen, of Union St., who for the past forty years, has been engaged in whitebaiting, our representative was informed that in the late ’Bo’s and early ’9o’s whitebait was very plentiful locally, and Foxton’s annual export of this delicacy was in the vicinity of 1000 tins per annum. “I rdm ember, on one occasion,” said the old veteran Whitebaiter, “railing 300 tins of whitebait to Wellington in one day.” Ashed whether he thought there would ever be any possibility of whitebait being caught in such quantities again locally, Mr. Andresen shook his 'head. Whitebait will always be plentiful where there are plenty of lakes and lagoons, lie said, but there are no such places for the whitebait in this district now. At one time they used to be able to find their way into the Makerua and Moutoa swamps, Taonui, Robinson’s, Hunias and Koputara Lakes ibnt not to-day. Poaching prevents the ’bait from getting into the lakes mentioned and the Moutoa arid Maketrua swamps are now blocked to them. They would have to travel as far as Awapuni to the Awapuni Lagoon before they could find an outlet now. Our representative expressed surprise that whitebait, would travel as far as Awapuni, but Mjr. Andresen said he had found whitebait in the Kiwitea and Feikling districts. “If all the drains and orelks were closed to fishermen the whitebait would certainly increase and the industry would again establish itself on a firm footing,” he said. “Since the drain was closed at the Beach, whitebait have been more plentiful ar.d this is surely the best evidence in favour of keeping the drain closed.” INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS. Some interesting experiments regarding khe hatching and growth of young whitebait are being carried out in the offijee of the chief inspector of fisheries, Mr. A. E. Hefford, 'in Wellington. As a result of these Mr. Hefford has already gained information which throws new light on the habits of the fish. It has been found 'that whitebait eggs will hatch out in salt, fresh and brackish water, although brackish water appears to be most suitable. Some late-spawning fish were taken from the mouth of the Manawatu River and eggs from the _ female fish were extracted and placed in three different containers, holding salt, fresh and brackish water respectively. They were artificially fertilised on May 18, and the eggs hatched about three weeks after fertilising. The young fish, in the larval stage, were artificially fed on water containing minute organisms i which were taken from the Wellington haihoulr. They are all thriving, the difference in the water not seeming to affect them greatly. The young form has been identified and the various stages of growth are being watched carefully. Proof that the whitebait is a hardy fish is the fact that the parent fish, taken from the Manawatu river, are thriving in a bucket of water in the fisheries office. It is commonly understood that whitebait come from the sea, spending their life from the infant sta-. ges in irivefsT"' The whitebait proceed to the mouth of the livers to spawn and millions of eggs are deposited there. This migration is probably due to the presence of suitable microscopic plant organisms in the sea, which are not available in the rivers.