Trout trapping in Paradise…

Above is a slide show of Didymo Dave counting trout at the Te Whaiau Fish Trap at Lake O – he should charge admission…

Photos and story below pinched from DOC’s facebook:  —–

Warning!!! DOC Fishery rangers stripping.

Below are a few photos from last Friday’s stripping session at Lake Otamangakau – “stripping” being the act of obtaining eggs from female fish and sperm from males.

Once the eggs (or ‘ova’) and sperm (aka ‘milt’) are massaged from the fish they are gently mixed together using a feather to help with fertilisation. In this case, DOC Fisheries are helping supply fertilised rainbow trout ova for Fish & Game’s Hawera hatchery in Taranaki.

'DOC fishery ranger Harry with a ripe hen starting the process off by extracting some eggs'
'Aquatic gold'
'The milt from a healthy, good-to-go jack is extracted and mixed with the ova'
'Once fertilised, Harry carefully flushes away the excess milt using the flow of the stream. This is basically replicating what naturally happens within trout redds in the wild'
Below are other TRM slide shows of Lake O:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HruHpkef-j8
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjnP3ImfB7A