OUR FISHERIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 205, 29 August 1936, Page 8

OUR FISHERIES.

3 ■ - I Having read with much interest several of 1 Ruby E. Watson's letters during the last three > years, may I heartily applaud her sentiments 7 and also the persistence with, which she clings to the subject? She is a very far-seeing writer and champion, and her suggestion that Mr. ; Coates' idea re collecting advice and informa- ■ tion from private fishermen be carried out ' certainly is an excellent move. It is high 1 time that something be done towards keeping • the seine boats off the beaches. One patrol ' boat would be very little use, as the whole ■ coast of New Zealand needs the most strict 1 patrolling and the seine boats kept at least three miles out, as illegal fishing is in operation to a much larger extent than most people realise. In the last five or six years the fish lias 'been depleted to an alarming extent almost beyond recovery and hundreds of fishermen—with small launches—have been forced to give up fishing and join the unemployed. Yet every few weeks one reads of still another new seine boat being launched to commence fishing operations in the Hauraki Gulf or the Bay ,of Plenty, ds the case may be. To get a man from abroad to show us how to run the fishing industry is nothing short of ridiculous, and a waste of money besides. There are plenty of New Zealand men really interested in the future of this industry, with a few broadminded ideas, a/nd, above all, fairness. ROCKS.