The Akaroa Mail TUESDAY, APRIL 6. 1897. DESTRUCTION OF FISH.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXIV, Issue 2141, 6 April 1897, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail TUESDAY, APRIL 6. 1897. DESTRUCTION OF FISH.

It has been reported to us that it is a common custom with some of the fishermen hero to empty their nets on tho land, pick out the flounders that are of the due nze allowed to be sold by the law, and leave all the smaller ones to perish without advantage to anyone.

It is certainly the duty of every resident to sco tbat a stop is put to this disgraceful practise. Year by year Akaroa flounders are getting scarcer and scarcer, and it is no wonder when such disgraceful practices are allowed. It is well known that. Akaroa flounders nre as a rule much superior in quality and flavour to those caught elsewhere, as anyone who has tasted the fish caught in Dunedin, Lake Ellesmere and elsewhere will be sure to acknowledge. This great excellenoe makes them very eagerly sought for, and the consequence is tbey have little chance of escape when they attain a respectable size. It is notorious that the hi*; flounders and soles common in the past are now extremely rare, and that it is a job to procure even ordinary sized fish in any quantity.

This killing of the goose that lays the golden eggs', by the wholesale destruction of the young flounders is, therefore, a much more serious matter than it at first appears, as if persevered in it may l j ad to tbe extinction of the fishery. Luckily the law has provided a remedy in the 14th clause of " The Sea Fisheries Act 1894," which provides that "all nets containing fish shall be emptied in the water ; and every person who drags or draws on to the dry land any such net is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds."

We do not want to see any penalty inflicted, but wo wish all those who use nets to understand that if, without rhyme or reason, they leare the young flat fish that get into their nets to die, instead of restoring them to the sea to grow into wholpsome food for the mutual benefit of the fisherman and consumer, they run a risk of losing £20. If after warning the practice is persisted in, it is to be hoped the authorities will take proper steps to put a stop to such a disgraceful practice.