"MORE LIGHT."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 246, 18 October 1927, Page 10

"MORE LIGHT."

SCIENTIFIC TORCH.

TTSE AND ABUSE OF FISH.

WHALE TO WHITEBAIT

This is an age when it seems to be necessary to find a scientific starting point for every investigation, necessary also to gather scientifically a whole heap of fact 3 before you begin to form opinions; and as so many New Zealand investigations have been minus a scientific basis, there seems to be no course save to scrap opinions and make a new scientific start.

When the Forest Service was initiated it had to set on foot fact-finding scientific investigations that have not yet reached their conclusion, for these things may be a matter of years. And the new Director of Fisheries must find things very much as the Director of Forests found them. Both have to deal with problems of wild life (partly indigenous life) and of natural resources concerning which there are no New Zealand text-books. The Book of Nature in a comparatively new country is not nearly so fully written up as in "an older country, and older countries' experience is not always on a par with the facts of new countries. Therefore a somewhat tardy start has to be made in scientific spade-work. Neglect of this spade-work in the past may be due to the absence of a properly-constituted department—as in the case of forests—or to a lack of funds.

The recent creating in the Dominion of new scientific research machinery, and the appointment of modern men to some of the pre-existing departments, means more expenditure, also an assured return for that expenditure, but the return may not be apparent to-morrow or next day.

Study of Wild Life. Of all the problems now coming under investigation in New Zealand, none is more fascinating than the problem of wild.life—Low to use and conserve the tish of the sea, the fresh-water fishes, and fur animals like the opossum; how to conserve the indigenous forests and birds (inter-dependent); and how to get the best results (both from the waterregulation and the conversion points of view) out of trees, whether native or exotic.

The recent annual report of the Director of Fisheries (Mr. A. E. Hefford) is largely a record of investigational starting points and provisions to secure from fishermen and others better statistical data.

After about two generations of argu ment concerning .the schnapper, flounder etc., of the Hauraki Gulf (including the Firth of Thames) and northern waters, It does not seem that anybody knows very much about the subject. The present generation has forgotten all about the experimental cruise of the trawler Hodo, and since then the Department of Fisheries has done no big scale fishing on its own account. Mr. Hefford now recommends that with a view to obtaining practical knowledge of the effect of *eme fishing (said to be destructive) in the Hauraki Gulf, and in order to add to biological knowledge, "the Department should undertake Danish-seining investisations in all parts of the gulf." Meanwhile, on the imperfect information before him, Mr. Hefford is satisfied that in the gulf "considerable depletion ha* taken place," and his policy is one of placing the trawl and the seine under restrictions, the tendencv of which is to exteud and to tighten, the chief spawning grounds were closed to this kind of net from November 15 till the end of January (normal spawning), and the report recommends extension of the annual close period till the end of February. Tn olaces the prohibition is absolute". In the interests of small fish the cod end of a Danish seine must now have a mesh of not less than 4 J inches.

Cannot Afford to Waste. Mr. Hefford is not one of those who regard New Zealand's sea fish as inexhaustible. The sea in these parts has too big a proportion of. deeps to shallows. There is no North Sea, and fishing grounds are apparently limited. We cannot afford to waste.

More knowledge is being sought about the important shellfish, particularly the oyster and the toheroa. An attempt has •been made to colonise a part of the Bay of Plenty with toheroas from the Muri wai, but further plantings of the toheroa are not deemed wise "until mo re is known about the habits and vital requirements of this species." The demand for a scientific torch meets one at every corner.