Link to Californian salmon probed
Members of a Native American tribe have returned to Canterbury and should know ‘‘very soon’’ whether an extinct species of California salmon is the same as those swimming in New Zealand rivers.
A delegation from the Winnemem Wintu tribe of northern California visited Mid and North Canterbury rivers in May, to begin testing whether local fish were the same as the chinook salmon – wiped out three years after the Shasta Dam was built on the Sacramento River in 1945.
They have now returned and 45 samples had been taken from the likes of the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers and sent back to the University of California, Davis, for testing, Fish & Game spokesman Richard Cosgrove said.
Connecting the two species was difficult because there was no DNA from the extinct fish for comparison. The testing programme had to begin from June 1, as researchers had to make sure the fish were a ‘‘winter run’’.
‘‘We’ve been testing a couple of days a week, every week since then but [Winnemem Wintu chief] Caleen Sisk and her son Michael have come back out and they’ve brought some fisheries scientists with them from other Native American tribes,’’ Cosgrove said.
‘‘They’ve been going around seeing where we’re sampling and how we’re doing things now we’re under way ... we expect some results back very soon.’’
Nearly 120 years ago, fish culturalist Livingston Stone established a hatchery on a river near Winnemem Wintu land to replenish dwindling Atlantic salmon stocks.
Stone exported eggs around the world and the salmon were taken to 14 countries, only surviving long-term in New Zealand.