Super feed sends young trout on way

Rotoiti sisters Cate, 3, and Milla Phipps, 7, watch as young trout are "piped" into the lake. Photo/Supplied

Fish & Game officers have released 1500 young trout, in the first release of the New Year, into lakes Tarawera and Rotoiti.

The early release is aimed at growing a batch of trout as quickly as possible. Fish & Game officer Mark Sherburn said 1000 fish from the Ngongotaha hatchery were released into Lake Tarawera and 500 into Lake Rotoiti.

To get the fish to a survivable size for this release, they were fed a high growth-rate diet, given "as much as they'll eat, lots more food than normal".

Mr Sherburn said the challenge was to get the fish to a size at which they could survive in the lake while conditions were at their best. This minimum size was considered to be around 14cm, though some of the fish were bigger.

Mr Sherburn said Fish & Game had trialled the release of fish at different times and found benefits to trout survival and growth.

At one stage, 5000 fish were released into Lake Tarawera during summer, which resulted in trout that grew well but didn't contribute to the catch as much as some other releases.

"Now we are releasing trout at eight times throughout the year within lakes Tarawera, Rotoiti and Okataina to get the best results for our licence holders."

The staggered approach, releasing more regular batches of fewer fish, was introduced in the spring of 2012. Research has shown a wider spread to the timing of releases leads to better survival rates.