Story: Smith, Joseph Stewart

Stewart Smith

A head and shoulders photograph of Stewart Smith standing beside a waterway, holding a jar of water with several small live fish in it up to the camera.

Fisherman Stewart Smith transformed the ecology of New Zealand’s freshwater lakes and rivers through his many introductions of exotic fish, some of which prospered as pests and permanently damaged native ecosystems. He illegally released more than 15,000 fish into the wild, primarily in the Auckland, Northland, and Waikato regions. He’s pictured here with two of the rudd he bred at his Massey service station.

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How to cite this page:

Charlie Mitchell. 'Smith, Joseph Stewart', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2022. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6s11/smith-joseph-stewart (accessed 16 May 2024)