Salmon Fishing in New Zealand: Many of the South Island's rivers host annual spawning runs in late summer and autumn. In the areas we fish, the Waimakariri, Hurunui, Taramakau and Grey rivers all have wild runs which enable salmon fishing. The following general information is provided your interest.

In the Redd - The story begins and ends in the cold, clear waters of mountain streams and rivers. A female fish may lay 3,000-5,000 bright pink eggs in the nest called a redd that she digs in the gravelly stream bed. After the male fertilizes the eggs they absorb water and become sticky. The female moves upstream to lay more eggs. Gravel from the next nest is pushed downstream and covers the first nest. The eggs grow and develop for about 50 days before hatching.

Emerging - Only about 20% of the eggs in a stream will hatch. Many of the eggs succumb to predators, oxygen deprivation or physical damage. A newly hatched salmon or alevin emerges with a yolk sac attached to its abdomen. Alevins live in the gravel and survive by absorbing the protein, sugars and vitamins from their yolk sac. This tiny young salmon is called a parr. 

Downstream Migration - Parr remain in freshwater feeding and growing for many months or even years before migrating downstream to saltwater. 

Ocean Life - Feeding in the estuary where fresh and saltwater intermingle doubles or triples the size of the smolt. After a few weeks of growing and adjusting to saltwater, the young  swim into the ocean. The ocean provides salmon with abundant food including shrimp and other crustaceans which help to color their flesh pink. They spend one to five years at sea depending on their species.

Going Home - Migration is an astounding feat still not fully understood. Juveniles imprint or memorize the unique organic odors of their home streams. As returning adults they can detect and recognize these odors and follow them upstream sometimes to the exact areas where they hatched. Before making this upstream migration, however, they must find their way to within smelling distance of the river.  It is thought that they use currents, salinity and temperature patterns, the sun, stars, and the earth's magnetic field to aid them in traveling from sea to river mouth. Not all return to their home stream at the same time of year.  They gather at the river's mouth to await heavy rains before moving upstream. During upstream migration, salmon do not feed.

Spawning - When they reach their spawning grounds males and females pair off. Females look for rippling waters and clean streambed gravel that can be swept aside with broad tail strokes. The scooped-out gravel forms a depression about the shape of the female s body but twice as long. Males compete to spawn with the female. The female deposits some of her eggs in the redd and the male fertilizes them with a milky cloud of sperm called milt. Eggs are laid in batches deposited in pockets within the redd.  Most Pacific salmon die within one to two weeks after spawning.

Life from Death - Pacific salmon do not survive to care for their young but their deaths are an important factor in young's survival. The decaying bodies of those who have spawned are a vital part of the stream ecology. Nutrients from their decomposition support plant and insect life that later nourish emergent salmon. Streamside plants absorb salmon nutrients and in the US, bears, birds, small mammals and even deer also feed on the carcasses.

Hazards
Fish face many hazards both natural and man-made at each stage of their life cycle. Natural hazards include drought, floods, predators and inadequate food supplies. They have evolved with these natural hazards and have developed adaptations to cope with them. They are unable to cope successfully with most human-created hazards. There are four primary factors that have led to the decline of Pacific Northwest fish numbers.

Habitat Destruction - Throughout their lives they depend on cold, clean, well-oxygenated water. Their freshwater habitat must include plants to shade streams, deep pools of water to rest in and clean gravel for spawning. Poor logging practices, grazing, mining, road-building and urban development often destroy streamside vegetation, erode the land and fill streams with silt that smothers gravel beds.

Hydropower - Hydroelectric dams block migration to and from the ocean. Many dams lack fish ladders. The downstream migration of the young is hampered by the huge reservoirs of water that form behind dams where juvenile fish are exposed to unhealthy conditions, high temperatures and predators. Fish that pass through the turbine blades of dams are often injured or killed.

Hatcheries - Hatcheries were developed as a way to compensate for the loss of fish habitat to dams, agriculture and urbanization. They effectively protect eggs and rear young fish to the time of freshwater release. Hatchery-reared fish may transmit diseases to wild fish and they compete with wild fish for food and habitat. Interbreeding with hatchery fish dilutes the genetic diversity and vigor of wild stocks. In the US, despite large numbers of hatcheries in Washington state, runs in the Northwest have steadily declined. Fewer fishing days are available to fishermen than ever before. Less fish are caught and the size of those fish tends to be smaller than those of the past.

 (Salmon Information from Canadian Fishing Company)

Alevin - The lifestage of a salmonid between egg and fry. An alevin looks like a fish with a huge pot belly, which is the remaining egg sac. Alevin remain protected in the gravel riverbed, obtaining nutrition from the egg sac until they are large enough to fend for themselves in the stream.

Anadromous - Fish that live part or the majority of their lives in saltwater, but return to freshwater to spawn.

Emergence - The act of salmon fry leaving the gravel nest.

Fry - A juvenile salmonid that has absorbed its egg sac and is rearing in the stream; the stage of development between an alevin and a parr.

Kype - The hooked jaw many male salmon develop during spawning.

Parr - Also known as fingerling. A large juvenile salmonid, one between a fry and a smolt.

Smolt - A juvenile salmonid which has reared in-stream and is preparing to enter the ocean. Smolts exchange the spotted camouflage of the stream for the chrome of the ocean.

Substrate - The material which comprises a stream bottom.

Salmon fishing - they are among the most prized fish available to anglers throughout the world. Most fishermen do not catch many per season, and put in a great many hours. Ample reward is the huge battle that ensues when one is finally provoked into a strike, when the rod bends dramatically, and the adrenaline flows.

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