UC researcher is having to mix Bovril with Vegemite
UC researcher is having to mix Bovril with Vegemite
to bait whitebait for
research
October 14,
2012
A University of Canterbury (UC)
researcher is having to mix Bovril with Vegemite to bait
whitebait until Marmite returns to the supermarket shelves
next year.
UC masters student Jessica Hill has gone
through more than 200 500gm jars of Marmite in her research
project to find out why New Zealand whitebait numbers are
declining. Whitebait love Marmite, she
said.
``Bovril is not as good as Marmite but I’m
mixing it with Vegemite to stretch out my bait until Marmite
is back in production next year,’’ UC researcher Jessica
Hill said today.
``Marmite production has halted
because of the Christchurch earthquakes and I quickly ran
out of bait in the middle of this large experiment.
``We were able to buy a small box of marmite from
the Fresh Choice supermarket in Merivale and I’ve had so
much support from my supervisors, friends, the UC Marine
Ecology Research Group and everyone who donated jars of
Marmite. Without this help the work would have been almost
impossible,’’ Hill said.
Whitebait catches may
have been declining since the 1930s which is of importance
to whitebait lovers and the general public. One of the key
reasons for the decline in whitebait numbers is the damaged
caused by livestock and the public walking around
unintentionally damaging the spawning habitat in
estuaries.
Hill said she wanted to know whether
whitebait in damaged spawning areas were moving to connected
rivers via tributaries or estuaries with better spawning
habitat.
She researched 10 rivers in Christchurch and
Westport and tagged whitebait to carry out her research. She
studied the known spawning sites and captured mass spawning
number of whitebait and tagged them to study their
movements.
``We found that whitebait easily move
between tributaries and estuaries to better spawning
grounds. We’re now doing more research to see how many
whitebait are moving this coming summer and we are seeking
to preserve at least one small spawning site in a
catchment.
``We want to restore the damaged spawning areas so we can increase egg survival and hopefully increase next year’s whitebait catch. To do that, we need to fence off livestock. It’s just a very small area so it is feasible to achieve. We also need to plant in the riparian zone where the whitebait spawns.
``I’m currently running a spawning
experiment in the lab to see if the whitebait would rather
spawn on native or exotic vegetation. Once we know this we
will plant adequate vegetation in all the damaged spawning
areas. If we don’t do anything to protect these areas
whitebait catches will continue to
decrease.’’
Hill will present her research
findings to date at the UC’s annual biology conference for
students on campus on Wednesday, October
17.
ENDS