48 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



carrying this idea even to the introduc- 

 tion of aquatic plants upon which such 

 Insect life can multiply. Mau.v Sierra 

 lakes, otherwise ideal, are barren of fish 

 because they produce no feed, and must 

 first be built up to support fisli life, after 

 which trout can be established in a very 

 short time. It is the plan of tlie Depart- 

 ment of Fishculturo to begin s.ystematic 

 operations, on a large scale, to introduce 

 aquatic plants and insects in the barren 

 waters of the more important lakes in 

 the high Sierras during the coming season. 

 This work must be| done by persons 

 familiar with the habits of the insects 

 and fish as well as the conditions that 

 prevail in the lakes that are to be 

 stocked. As soon as the insects are 

 introduced and are thriving, the lakes 

 will be stocked with trout fry. 



SUCCESSFUL INTRODUCTION OF 

 SALMON IN NEW ZEALAND. 



The Fishcultural Department has re- 

 ceived a letter from the Honorable L. F. 

 Ayson. Chief Inspector of Fisheries for 

 New Zealand, that will be of interest to 

 all fishculturists interested in the propa- 

 gation of salmon. It also puts some new 

 light on the "parent stream theory" re- 

 garding the habits of the salmon. Evi- 

 dently the salmon have not confined 

 themselves to the stream in which they 

 were planted in New Zealand. The 

 efforts of the New Zealand Government 

 to establish a run of salmon in New 

 Zealand began in 1873, when the first 

 salmon eggs were shipped from California 

 to New Zealand. At different times from 

 1873 to 1900, shipments of salmon eggs 

 were made to New Zealand, but no 

 results were obtained. In 1900, G. H. 

 Lambson, then Superintendent of Baird 

 Hatchery on the McCloud River, took a 

 consignment of salmon eggs from Mc- 

 Cloud River, California, at the request 

 of Honorable L. F. Ayson, Inspector of 

 Fisheries, to New Zealand. Mr. Lambson 

 personally attended to the collection and 

 preparation of these eggs, and cared for 

 them en route, and on their arrival in 

 New Zealand, arranged for the hatching 

 and rearing of the fry. From this and 

 subsequent lots taken by Mr. Lambson. 

 dates the introduction of the quinnat 

 salmon into waters of New Zealand. 



Following is an extract from the letter 

 of Mr. Ayson regarding the salmon in 

 New Zealand : 



"W. H. SlIEBLEY, 



1 )ei)t. of Fishculture, 

 San Francisco. 



Dkau Mk. Siikbley : I was verv 

 l)lease(l indeed to get your letter of the 

 7tli February, and also the copy of 

 .vour biennial report, which .you kindly 

 sent. 'The report contained a great 

 amount of most interesting and useful 

 information. There is no mistake 

 about your fish culture work progress- 

 ing and on modern lines. 



With regard to the spread of salmon 

 along our coasts, the Waitaki is the 

 onl.v river on the east coast of the 

 South Island in which salmon have 

 been planted, and now the.y have spread 

 from there into five rivers north along 

 the coast, for a distance of fully three 

 hundred miles, and south from the 

 Waitaki for a distance of about 120 

 miles. There is a strong ocean cur- 

 rent running from south to nortii 

 along that coast which no doubt 

 accounts for the salmon traveling fur- 

 ther north than they have done south. 



The first river suitable for salmon is 

 the Rangatata aliout ninety miles 

 north of the Waitaki, and they made 

 their appearance there five years after 

 the first fish were taken in the spawn- 

 ing season, in a tributary of the 

 Waitaki. and now nearly as many 

 run into the river as into the Waitaki. 

 In each of these rivers over three tons 

 of salmon were caught by trout anglers 

 in five weeks last autumn. In New 

 Zealand, at any rate, salmon have of 

 their own accord spread along the 

 coast and ascended and spawned in 

 rivers where no salmon have been 

 {)lpnted. 



In this country the trout fishing is 

 controlled by Acclimatisation Socie- 

 ties, and as the salmon come in. in the 

 autumn, when the run of trout is over, 

 anglers have had splendid sport catch- 

 ing these fish with sninning bait after 

 the trout fishing is finished. This has 

 considerably increased the number of 

 anglers, and the Societies' revenue 

 from analing licenses, and they are 

 now making a big bid to get the con- 

 trol of the salmon. This, of course. I 

 am strouQ-ly onnosed to for reasons — 

 (a) that the State found all the monev 

 and did all the work of introducing 

 these fish, (h) that the Societies at 

 fii'st opiwsed the introduction of this 

 salmon because they said "it was no 

 sport fish and not desirable fish to 

 introduce." and (c) that the Socie- 

 ties' administration and fish cultural 

 methods are wasteful, inefficient and 

 not to the best interests of the major- 

 ity of our i)eoi)le. 



Yours very sincerely, 



L. F. Ayson, 

 Chief Inspector of Fisheries." 



