Trout fishery rivers in the
Wellington Region identified by Wellington Fish and Game and based on the
Fisheries Resource Inventory. Each catchment and river has its own inventory
database that is continually updated and added to with information from field
work that includes drift dive surveys, fish traps, electric fishing counts and
tagging.
Trout spawn in gravel bottomed,
upland rivers and tributaries from late autumn to mid-winter. Preferred spawning
habitats are in water depths of 0.15-0.45 m, with flow velocities of 0.20-0.55
m/s-1 on a gravel substrate with clast sizes in the range of 14-64 mm. This dataset is a companion to the trout spawning waters feature layer.
The general methodology is to
identify rivers and streams that are important for trout recruitment, followed
up by field surveys to identify sections of rivers that satisfy spawning
conditions on the basis of preferred spawning habitat and the presence and
number of reeds. Regular spawning surveys are undertaken on waterbodies known to
be important contributors to trout populations of a catchment.
Further information can be found in
the report:
Tahere, S. (2015),
Trout Sports Fisheries and
Trout Spawning Habitat Fish and Game NZ Wellington Region – Greater Wellington
Region. Wellington Fish and Game Council, 22p +
appendices.