Bob McDowall Essays of a Fishery Scientist: 50 years of experience Compilied and Edited by Don Jellyman NIWA Information Series No. 80 2011 ISSN 1174-264X Bob McDowall – Essays of a Fishery Scientist: 50 years of experience Compilied and Edited by Don Jellyman NIWA Information Series No. 80 2011 ISSN 1174-264X Published by NIWA PO Box 14 901, Kilbirnie Wellington, New Zealand ©NIWA 2011 Citation: Don Jellyman (Comp. & Ed. 2011) Bob McDowall – Essays of a Fishery Scientist: 50 years of experience NIWA Information Series No. 80. 188p ISSN 1174-264X Contents Preface 5 3 Biographies 98 3.1 Derisely Hobbs – the man and his message 99 Thanks for the legacy 6 3.2 Ever been trout fishing by steamer? 103 1. On the biology of native and 3.3 A man with an eye for a species 106 introduced fish 8 3.4 Thoughts from the top 108 1.1 New native fish found 9 3.5 Master of Salmon 110 1.2 On names of species and trout 12 3.6 A man for his time 113 1.3 Upland bully – champion of the 3.7 A game importer extraordinaire 115 breeding stakes 16 3.8 Our legacy is at risk 118 1.4 A fish lost and gone forever 20 3.9 Bush tucker Charlie’s way 124 1.5 What is homing? 24 3.10 Cecil Whitney – the ammo man 129 1.6 See how they run 30 3.11 Wise before his time 133 1.7 Fish of the Falklands 34 3.12 Brunner’s epic bush bash 136 1.8 Matching your catch 39 1.9 Another perspective 42 4 Perspectives on lakes, rivers and fish 141 1.10 Like a thief in the night 43 4.1 The Year of the Frog 142 1.11 Wagging their tails 45 4.2 Memories of an antediluvian 1.12 How many species of brown trout? 51 Tongariro fisherman 145 1.13 Somewhere under the rainbow 55 4.3 Whatever happened to the Selwyn? 149 4.4 We know so darn little 154 2 On the management of land and water 59 4.5 Taupo’s rips of the ‘50s live on 158 2.1 Once were wetlands 60 4.6 How much is a river worth? 161 2.2 When to stock and when to stop! 67 4.7 Fish, pain, and civilisation 165 2.3 A hatchery for Lake Dunstan? 71 4.8 Return of the Big Bang 167 2.4 Hello there possums! 74 4.9 Another damned lake 172 2.5 Don’t just think about it 78 4.10 A matter of opinion 175 2.6 Stop slagging the shag 81 4.11 Did I say that? 181 2.7 You’d think we had learned 86 2.8 You must be joking 88 5 The giant of freshwater fisheries – Bob McDowall 185 2.9 The truth about rotenone 90 2.10 What’s up with the Taupo fishery? 93 3 Preface It gave me real pleasure to compile this collection of Bob McDowall’s essays. All were written for Fish & Game New Zealand, and we are indebted to the editor, Bob South, for permission to republish them here. I first met Bob in 1969. He had just returned to New Zealand after completing his PhD at Harvard University. In 1973, I started working in the same laboratory as Bob and did so until his retirement in 2000. I greatly admired his scientific knowledge and prodigious output, as did many of my colleagues. Re-reading these essays, I am also reminded of other sides of Bob’s character – the naturalist, conservationist, and angler. Bob’s early fishing experiences were on the Tongariro River and Lake Taupo. It was Bob who taught me to fish the Tongariro in the 1970s. In those days we used fast-sinking lines and lures (large wet flies) fished downstream. Bob still used a Hardy Wye cane rod, a gift from his father. The Tongariro River features in a number of these essays; it was formative for the young McDowall as he came to understand and love the river itself and the abundance and diversity of life it held. That love didn’t change for Bob, although after the Tongariro Diversion and the great flood of 1958, the river was never quite the same. As much as he loved trout fishing, his name became synonymous with whitebait, and from there to the rest of the native fish fauna. He was truly the father of freshwater fish in New Zealand – he identified and described them, studied the biology of many, and warned about the impacts that the spread of trout and loss of habitat were having on many species. Bob’s scientific papers and popular writing embraced a impressive range of subjects. These essays range from frogs and fish, through biographies of prominent environmentalists and explorers, to personal reflections on values and changes experienced during a lifetime’s work. Most of the essays were written in the evenings, in a comfy chair with a laptop balanced on his knee. Writing came easily to Bob, and popular articles were not only a means of conveying information, but also a form of relaxation from the more rigid and demanding world of scientific manuscripts. He enjoyed this style of writing, and it is my hope that readers will equally enjoy what he’s written. He leaves a huge hole in the world of freshwater fisheries in New Zealand, but has left us a vast legacy of written material. For convenience, the essays have been grouped into four general sections: - the biology of native and introduced fish - management of land and freshwater - biographies - perspectives on lakes, rivers and fish. I have written a brief introduction to each section. Bob South wrote the introductory comments (here in bold type) to many of the essays when they were first published. The line drawings are some of the many that Bob did of New Zealand’s freshwater fish. The drawings show the diversity of fish present in New Zealand’s freshwaters, and also some of the skill and detail Bob brought to his work. Enjoy. Don Jellyman Compiler/editor Principal Scientist, Freshwater Fisheries, NIWA 5 Bob McDowall – Essays of a Fishery Scientist: 50 years of experience Thanks for the legacy Fish and Game 72, 2011 It was Issue 14 in 1996 when our paths first crossed. I knew of R M McDowall as an internationally respected freshwater scientist, an authority on New Zealand native fish, and author of several highly acclaimed books. But, as editor of a fledgling magazine, I’d always considered a man of his prowess out of the league of this publication. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Bob, a tower of a man I grew to know and greatly admire, was as amenable to writing for Fish & Game New Zealand as the bloke next door. And from that first contribution, New Native Fish Found, Bob went on to become, as he did in every pursuit, a champion and championed contributor. Readers devoured his articles and begged for more. And amidst an unbelievably busy schedule, even in supposed retirement, he willingly gave more, until, sadly and all too suddenly, he passed away in late February in Christchurch. From 1996 to 2009, McDowall wrote no fewer than 63 features for this magazine. He also wrote 12 books and 267 scientific papers in his illustrious career, but, significantly and selfishly from where I sit, of the 232 popular articles he wrote, Bob shared more than a quarter of them with us in our pages. We were blessed. We are indebted. His topics were varied – from the Taupo fishery to the Selwyn, from salmon to his beloved galaxids, from the Tongariro and Lakes Young and Dunstan to the Falklands, from shags and browns and rainbows and native grayling to bush tucker. He was a genius with words. Some of his best work for us came in his column, People of the Past, in which he wrote of great men, long deceased, whose deeds helped shaped the fishing and hunting landscape of this country. He profiled Cecil Whitney, Thomas Donne, Charles Douglas, Lake Falconer Ayson, Tom Andrews, Thomas Brunner, Derisley Hobbs, William H. Spackman, Leonard Tripp, Gerald Stokell, Edgar Stead, and, not to be omitted, the American Aldo Leopold, a revolutionary among fish and game managers. One day, some worthy successor will write of Bob McDowall with the same reverence and grace that he wrote of these important men. He shares their greatness. Bob was always a busy man, a prolific wordsmith and, to my eternal detriment, I did not manage to publish all that he wished to share, among them stories with titles such as ‘Death by a thousand cuts’, ‘R & K selection’, and ‘It wasn’t all science’. He never worried about their non-appearance. Always happily occupied with other pursuits, he just carried on. His latest project before his death was completing yet another book, and arguably his finest: ‘Ikawai, Freshwater fishes in Māori culture and economy’ is an 872 page compilation of historic and contemporary Māori customary fisheries, which will be released soon. Previous epics included a 553 page ‘bible’ published in 1978 and re-printed several times, entitled ‘New Zealand Freshwater Fishes, A Natural History and Guide’. It is the most comprehensive book on New Zealand native and introduced species, including 53 species found in our waters (27 native, 20 introduced, six marine wanderers). Concerned about the human impact on our freshwater fisheries, Bob wrote in the final chapter: “Given that fish populations and habitats have taken such a drubbing from diverse land and water management practices, the issue that needs attention is to determine the appropriate conservation response.