Otago Fish and Game Council chief executive Ian Hadland said this week numbers of landlocked (lake) salmon in Otago fluctuated normally, but in Lake Wanaka were worryingly low.
''In the last couple of years it would be very hard to find an angler who has caught one.''
In contrast, salmon numbers in Lake Hawea were good, and in Lake Wakatipu they were ''OK'', having been high several years ago.
The news comes as the sea-run salmon fishery is also described as being ''in crisis'' by national Fish & Game Council head and former sea run salmon committee chairman Martin Taylor.
Fishermen are being warned to adhere to possible new bag limits for the Waitaki, Rangitata, Rakaia, Waiau, Hurunui and Waimakariri Rivers, or risk sea-run salmon fishing being closed for a period of time.
Some councillors at last week's meeting in Cromwell wondered if changes in Lake Wanaka's ecology, and things such as lake snow, were contributing to landlocked salmon ''disappearing'' from the lake.
Mr Hadland said the council was going to do a study on the Makarora tributaries that fed into Lake Wanaka in April and May, and try to monitor spawning grounds.
He is asking any fishermen who have caught land-locked salmon in the Upper Clutha or Queenstown district to contact Fish and Game, to help their data gathering and research.
