FISHING IN GULF.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 7

FISHING IN GULF.

TRAWLING AND SEINEING FURTHER RESTRICTIONS. PROTECTION OF FISHERIES. ENFORCEMENT NEXT YEAR. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Further restrictions are to be placed on trawling and Danish seine-net fishing in the Hauraki Gulf. New regulations will be issued shortly, but it is not intended that they should be enforced until April 1, 1930.

Comparing the position under the regulations issued early this year with the position that will obtain after April next, the Minister of Marine (Hon. J. G. Cobbe) stated that under the regulations made in April last trawling was prohibited inside a line from Colville Bay to Tiritiri, to an intersection of a line from Cape Colville to Rodney, and then to Rodney Point. The prohibition was applicable from March 16 to November 15. From November 16 to March 15 trawlers were prohibited inside a line from Cape Colville to Rodney Point.

Extent of Boundaries. "Under the regulations which it is proposed to bring into force in April, 1930, the trawlers will be kept outside the Rodney Point-Cape Colville line for eight months of the year, instead of six months as at present," added the Minister. "With regard to Danish seining, under the April regulations Danish seiners are kept outside of Coromandel Harbour, and a line from Deadman's Point to Ponui Light, and all the area between Eaukura Point and Matuku Bay westward through the Tamaki Strait and Waitemata Harbour. In addition, during the schooling season, from November 16 to January 31, they are kept out of the area from Kauri Point to Takatu Point. Under the proposed regulations the inshore area lying between Coromandel Harbour and Colville Bay will be closed altogether to Danish seining. The prohibition will also apply to the Waiheke Passage and Big Bay (Onetangi) on Waiheke Island.

"These proposals are not necessarily the limit of the restriction which may be placed on fishing in the gulf," said Mr. Cobbe, "but until there has been an opportunity of making further investigation as to the result of the proposed regulations, the Department does not feel justified in going any further. It may possibly be the case that the desired result —the protection of the fisheries— may be achieved by further net mesh regulations; but, in order to justify this method of protection, investigation should definitely prove, one way or the other, whether the existing mesh regulations permit the killing of an undue number of undersized fish."