Salmon Symposium

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Steve
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Salmon Symposium

Post by Steve » Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:38 pm

Managed to get along to this in Ashburton at the weekend - want to congratulate Fish and Game on a very well run event, the quality of information was very good as were the presentations, highlights for me was the presentation from Canadian fisheries expert David Willis which was very informative and gave insights as to the way forward.

New Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage was equally interesting as she gave the audience hope that the new Govt will address many of the environmental issues impacting on our river - to sum it up - she's on our side!

At one point organiser Mathew Hall asked the audience if they was anyone in the room who disagreed that the salmon fishery was in a perilous state - no one did - I spoke to one retired Rakaia Gorge farmer who remembered the good old days - over 100 fish for a season! - how times have changed...
The weekend ended with some words of wisdom from retiring F&G head Bryce Johnston - who suggested this was perhaps our last chance for these rivers and therefore the salmon fishery - when you consider what we once had - took for granted for so long - we can't afford to lose the King of fish and the King of our rivers - and so the fight to save the last of the salmon has begun - I hope it's one we can win!

Here a news item about it: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zea ... s-new-lows



Johnno
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Johnno » Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:30 pm

Last time I went salmon fishing - seriously salmon fishing - was the 1997 season. Then I moved away.
My last wild salmon was March 1997', a 26 pounder from the Rangitata Surf.
That year my biggest fish was a 33 pounder from the Waitaki Mouth.
Friends had bigger fish.
From memory I had around 30 salmon that year from Dec 1996 to March 1997.
The majority were over well over 20 pounds.
Some on the fly. The biggest fly caught from the Hurunui. ( does the Hurunui still even have a run?)

If we can return to those sort of seasons it'd be a miracle. :(

One other thing: In March 1997 you could go to any given part of the Mataura River on any given day and it'd be deserted.....

20 years later and haven't times changed......



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Steve
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Steve » Tue Nov 14, 2017 1:54 pm

Yes I remember the mid nineties runs - people everywhere - salmon everywhere - so I thought guiding for them might be a good idea - yeh right!



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TIDDLER
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by TIDDLER » Sat Nov 18, 2017 11:48 am

STEVE - I KNEW THAT OUR RIVERS USED TO RUN A LOT MORE SALMON BUT I HAD NO IDEA OF THE NUMBERS .
ACCORDING TO THE BELOW ARTICLE - BEFORE ROXBURGH DAM WAS BUILT( I was still in the womb) - THE CLUTHA USED TO HAVE RUNS OF 20 T0 50,000 SALMON . :o
IMAGINE THE FISHING DOLLARS THAT WOULD BRING TO ROXBURGH - ALEXANDRA AND SURROUNDS NOWDAYS !

I LIVE BY THAT RIVER AND ONLY A FEW LOCALS BOTHER EVEN GOING AFTER SALMON . SAD THING IS GOVERMENT KNEW THE NEED FOR PUTTING FISH CORRIDORS IN AROUND DAMS BUT THEY DIDN'T BOTHER . HOPEFULLY WE AS A COUNTRY WILL LEARN FROM THIS LACK OF FORESIGHT !

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-o ... our-salmon



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TIDDLER
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by TIDDLER » Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:46 pm

SALMON.... IF THE FOLKS BELOW CAN MAKE THE EFFORT - FUND RAISE AND TRAVEL THIS FAR WITH THE GOAL OF REPLENISHING THEIR SALMON STOCKS (and thereby their own tribal numbers ) , WE IN - NZ - SHOULD EASILY BE ABLE TO REPLENISH SALMON HERE , IN OUR RIVERS .

https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/north-ota ... life-tribe



Johnno
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Johnno » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:01 pm

Yes well. Whilst I agree with you that we “ought” to be able to replenish our local stocks, one has to remember that they are not native to our waters therefore the cultural aspect can’t be played upon. One also has to remember that salmon, at sea are regarded as a by-catch and that is cynically regarded by the salt wTer commercial fishing boats to mean they can catch as much as they like and not really have to declare anything. That ain’t going to change any time soon. Plus the feeding grounds for sea swimming salmon in NZ are seriously degraded by over fishing, climate change and what have you. As are the spawning grounds. Degraded like you wouldn’t believe.

And remember the salmon are an introduction so they do negatively affect the natural food chain. As do trout for that matter.

Whatever way you look at at, the wild salmon fishery on the east coast and West Coast of the Sth Island is pretty much buggered. The death throes are dancing.



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TIDDLER
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by TIDDLER » Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:46 pm

SADLY I AGREE WITH MOST OF WHAT JOHNNO HAS SAID . HOWEVER I DO HAVE HOPE THAT WHAT WAS DECIDED AT THE SYMPOSIUM WILL BE FULFILLED ... ie THAT A SMALL HATCHERY WILL BE CREATED ON THE CLUTHA ( and hopefully other rivers ) . THUS IMPRINTING WILL BE MUCH STRONGER . RECENTLY I HAVE ATTENDED DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF SALMON RUNS AND WHERE THE FISH WERE SPAWNING . THERE ARE STILL SOME OF THOSE SMALL TRIBS TO THE CLUTHA IN VERY GOOD NICK .
AS I UNDERSTAND IT , THERE ARE WATERWAYS IN BRITAIN WHERE THIS STRATEGY HAS WORKED AND NUMBERS ARE INCREASING (different fish).
MEANWHILE I AM KEEPING A SANGUINE OUTLOOK . FINGERS CROSSED !



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Steve
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Steve » Sat Apr 21, 2018 6:43 am

We can hope Tiddler, apparently there was a meeting very recently regarding this, I assume the next steps forward with getting a committee together, so hopefully we will start to see a bit of momentum soon



Lindeanfisher
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Lindeanfisher » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:48 am

Steve,
Below are two articles on the success of restocking a struggling river, the salmon were caught by net on our local "River Ettrick" These fish were stripped off there eggs and milt and reared in the salmon hatchery at Keilder.
This shows it can work if the time and effort is put into a project.

Sadly our own salmon run (Autumn) is diminishing on the Tweed and its tributaries, the Tweed biologist reckons the Autumn fish are travelling further for feeding and are being predated on. There figures also show that the Tweed Spring/Summer fish are on the increase ( These have been totally catch and release for the past decade which may off helped)

I do not know enough about your "Salmon" to comment on there migration, but I am sure if a hatchery was established, this would help improve runs in the future.

The articles are -
http://www.northeastlifemag.co.uk/out-a ... -1-1957048

https://www.wyeuskfoundation.org/proble ... Report.pdf

The Tweed Biologist's have documented there findings over the past 35 years and this can be found on there website.

Mike

Apologies for not being able to hyperlink above links☹️



Lindeanfisher
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Re: Salmon Symposium

Post by Lindeanfisher » Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:59 am

Steve
Below is a photo taken in 2011 showing salmon running the "Cauld" (Man made dam) on the Ettrick, this was always a great local and tourist attraction.
Sadly no more.
Image



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