SEINE NETTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1936, Page 14

SEINE NETTING.

FISHERMEN UPHELD. REPLY TO MR. ENWRIGHT. ACCUSATION REPUDIATED. Some of the remarks made by Mr. J. Enwright, manager of San fords, Ltd., in an interview published in Wednesday's "Star" have aroused the keen resentment of the seine net fishermen, on whose behalf Mr. S. Vella, managing director of the Auckland Fishermen's Association, made a statement yesterday.. "For Mr. Enwriglit to accuse the seine net boats of poaching inside the limits is a prime example of a dweller in a glass house throwing stones," remarked Mr. Vella. "If Mr. Enwriglit insists on propping up his arguments by such aspersions as that against the seine net skippers, they will very quickly retaliate by quoting the occasions, usually at night and in stormy weather, when the inspectors are not likely to be about, ■when the trawlers come not only inside the trawling limits but even inside the seine net limits. As regards his statement that 75 per cent of the seine net boats tow their gear, in defiance of the regulations, instead of working to an

anchor, I am surprised at such ignorance in a man in Mr. Enwright's position. He ought to know, better than anyone, that only a few of the most recently built seine net* boats have sufficient engine power to drag their nets. The majority could not do it if they tried. I am not denying that some of those who can drag their nets possibly do so on occasions, but the practice.is confined to a few boats, and •even they do not do it habitually." In the Wake of a Trawler. "While Mr. Enright denies that the trawlers deplete the fishing grounds and ruin the feed, he remarks that seine net boats have been known to shoot their nets in the wake of a trawler and catch fish that had followed the trawler to get the mussels and other feed broken by the trawl," Mr. Vella said. "That is exactly the trouble.. 'Mussels and other feed broken by the trawl,' says Mr. Enwright. A mild manner of describing the trail of ruin and destruction on the seabed behind a trawler which has dragged heavy boards over it. Mr. Enwright admits thus the destructiveness of his trawlers. The lightly made seine net, on the other hand, barely touches the seabed." ; Another respect in which the trawlers were far more destructive of fish, than were the seine netters was, said Mr. Vella, the length of time that the trawl was dragged, usually four hours. After the first fish caught had filled the mesh, the trawl caught everything in its path, big and small. When the trawl was lifted the fish were all dead, and it was therefore a waste of time throwing the under-sized ones back into the sea. The seine net, on the other hand, took no more than half an hour to haul in, and the fish were still alive when they came aboard. The under-sized ones, thrown .overboard, survived therefore to breed. The statement tliaf seine net boats invariably caught more fish in one haul of half an hour than the trawlers caught in four hours was characterised by Mr. Vella as quite absurd; Very rarely, and then only at the flush of the season, did a seine net boat bring in as much as 150 baskets from one ."trip, whereas |it that time the trawlers would be coming m with 1000 to 1200 baskest. Trawlers often caught 100 baskets in a haul, whereas 15 was a big haul for a seme net boat. Price of Fish. "What Mr. Vella <?ays is, in the main, correct as far;a4 it goes, but what both the fishermen and the public want to know, and cannot find, either hi Mr. Vella's statement or Mr; Enwright's, is why enapper which, the* fishermen land in Auckland Jfor lid a lb is sold as fillets in the 'shops for anything from 8d upwards a lb," remarked one of the fishermen, "In the local, filleting, of snapper, the loss in weight is about' 5/ per cent, no more, but for the sake of simplertfiguring, we? w"ill reckon in units of 1001b: The fisherman unloads at Auckland 1001b of snapper at : ljd a lb— that is the top price in Auckland to-day —receiving for it 12/6. The shopkeeper cleans and fillets that 1001b of nsli, throwing *a way 571b.' If he sells -the remaining 431b at only Bd' a lb, which is cheap as prices run in Auckland, he receives 28/8 for fish that the fisherman sold for 12/6. The skipper of a fishing boat cannot see why there should he such a disparity. The seinfe. net boat' has to earn, wages for three men,- sometimes four, and also cover the cost of oil, fuel, ice (30/ a. trip J:, and maintenance, not only of the boat itself, but' also of the nets and gear, the value of which might be, over £100. The loss of a net, a not infrequent calamity in rough weather, means the loss of £30, or more."