SALMON IN NEW ZEALAND.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 184, 6 August 1903, Page 4

SALMON IN NEW ZEALAND.

Thebe is at present in the lobby of Parliament House a very interesting exhibit, in the sh<>pe of a number of salmon, from the Hakatarema Salmon Station in the South Island. The fish are in glass jars, and are preserved in formalin, which has maintained their original lustre in a marked degree. In one jar there are quinnat salmon, six months old; in the next jar there is the parr of the quinnat, eighteen months old; while in the third jar there is the same species, two and a half years old. Two other jars contain specimens of the sockeye salmon, seven months and eighteen months eld. The quinnat is a magnificent fish. His habitat ranges along the North Pacific Coast of America, from latitude 36 decrees, Monterey Bay, California, to about 65 degrees, or north of the Yukon river. He is the largest of all the Salmons. In the Yukon some weighing over a hundred pounds have been taken. The sockeye, on the other hand, is one of the smallest of the salmons, but in regard to commercial value he ranks next to the quinnat, It is only rarely that fish of over 81b are caught, and the average weight of this species is about 51b, Half a million quinnat salmon ova were imported in January, 1901. A large number of the fry hatched out were liberated in Lake Ohau, and the waters running into the lake. The remainder were held in the-hatchery at Hakateramea until they were one year old, when half of them were put into the Hakateramea river, a tributary of the Waitaki. The balance are to be kept until they pre four years old, and it is hoped that when liberated just before the spawning season they will run up the rivers to spawn. Half a million | ova of the stockeye or blueback were I also imported, but owing to faulty | packing, the ova arrived in very bad condition, About 90,000 were hatched out. The experiment now being made to f cclimatise salmon in New Zealand waters is being carried out thoughtfully ard carc-fully. Many of the young salmon liberated in the lake have eioce been seen, and tboy appear to be in a particularly healthy and thriving condition. Whether, when they go down to the sea, they will ever return up tbe Waitaki or rivers remains to be seen. Hitherto the English salmon liberated in the colony have disappeared altofe.her. Whether they make t heir way to another country or fall a prey to our pea fish remains to be proved. It is not unlikely that t.hey follow soma own currrnt, wd fj K t a final hahitaf the South Aiuh'lcr rive—. At all this i« a theory '..eld by ono < f our meet competent pisciculturist!).