INSIGHTS INTO THE DIET OF TROUT IN TASMANIA'S CENTRAL HIGHLANDS LAKES-AN ANGLER'S CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE

摘要

The successful introduction of wild brown trout to Tasmania has been well documented in The Tasmanian Trout (Gilmore 1973), and more recently in a reprint of the Origins of the Tasmanian Trout booklet, the latter commemorating the 150~(th) anniversary of this event (Walker 1988a). In 1864, after several failed attempts to ship live ova to Tasmania, approximately 300 trout were successfully hatched, 40 of which were released into the Plenty River and the remainder retained in the Salmon Ponds at Plenty as brood stock. By July 1866, 14 females had been stripped of their eggs, yielding 4,050 ova. Two years later, in January 1868, a trout weighing 3 lb (1.36 kg) was caught in the Plenty River, and in June of that same year a trout weighing 9 lb 3 oz (4.17 kg) was also caught in the Plenty. Thus began the great Tasmanian trout angling experience. Following this success, trout were introduced to Great Lake in December 1870, consisting of 120 fry transported in billycans by police superintendent Jas Wilson (Gilmore 1973). Scant records exist on the original fauna of the highland lakes or the possible impacts of the exotic predatory fish at that time. Today there remain many and varied opinions about the value of introducing trout to our waterways, but however one feels, these fish are here to stay and their impacts on the natural ecosystem where they are established, have already transpired.