FREE FISH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1937, Page 8

FREE FISH.

MELODEON'S CATCH. SURPLUS GIVEN AWAY. EXCEEDING TH£ " LIMIT." Emula I in v. I' 1.• ; p!e.-» i.f old. 1 he <•;; p--11 in nil I i-rcw <■: 1 !:•• nr.v. '.••• Mclodron u ill tills afternoon distribute "fMies" to tin- peop'". '! i'i' 1 .ivctcd multitude w ill. ho\<e\rr. 1. o '.it il |.> bring its own bread. T.:!- .m .' mi N did ited not only I'\ t lie e t■i,!i-;. t 'oils of charity but .il" on eve. u. 11 o- the market being well -101 kcd foi -.ite'ii lioi weather, lisli not nice: in-: wii !i ,i» reed v -a 1 • in the -11111 nier ,1 - in t lie winter •a-on. I he Melo.b-oii i.- ;i l >r:;e li-11 ill ir vi'-i el v. ith a en-u of four. Trawling bet ween Taiii'.nie.i an I Mercury Island 011 the l-'.ast l o,i~; hist \\ eel. t lie "i-ateh"' was larger than anticipated, Orders were that I lie fs 11' j 1 11111 -1 in.| e\. ,'c:l t lie "limit " imposed on the \i el of To baskets. The I If. 11 were plentiful. lioweM-r. ami the li~liernh i 1 elia 1a 1 t criM icall v <'nt.liusinst i'. Why not lake ;i few more baskets when the op| 1 unit y presents it-elf? Iliov often h;nc we come imf and gone back almost empty handed? These were the algu 1: "lit•- that prevailed on the ground*. and so the Melm.-'on i-aj|i! it into port la~t Saturday with 1-0 b;.w|<cts of prime ischnapjier and teraki 115 under lier hatches and embedded in ice. Approximately 00 baskets were disposed of. and the remainder will he distributed free to the public this afternoon—that is, if the public wish to avail themselves of this golden opportunity. I'lic M lodeon. owned by Mr. linos, is lying along.-ide tiie sheila of tile Fishermen's Company (Auckland), Ltd. Explanations. "We do not want to •dump' the surplus fish into the tide." said Mr. Kaos. "The lishing industry is burdened with drastic regulations. We haw caught more lish than are evidently required, and so we prefer gi\ing tlicm awa.y to taking them out to the (lulf and 'dumping' them. T teel, however, that the fishermen do not all get a fair deal. \\ liile mv limit is "•> baskets, there are other boats half tli(! size of the Melodeon which have a much greater 'limit.' My view is that there -should be uniformity as to the quantity of ti*h that a trawler can take." The authority given to the'fishermen when they go out on their trips includes an instruction that the "limits" fixed must \>f. adhered to, and that no fish can be accepted over the "limits," said a merchant to-day. In the particular case which has come under the notice of Auckland lisli merchants this week the limit was 7"> baskets, but the actual catch brought in was over 125 backets. The company which placed the order tools 90 baskets, thus exceeding the amount for which it had contracted by If fcaskets, and efforts were then made to dispose of the surplus with other Auckland firms. It was found, however, that all the firms had entered into contracts with fishermen up to the limits of their cold storage capacity and could not take any additional quantity.

"Restriction on catches in Auckland is not a new development," he continued. "It has been in operation for the greater part of four months, due to the smalliiess of exports. At times the companies have taken a larger quantity from the owners of the boats than they had actually contracted for, but the surplus has usually been small. The flifficulty in the latest instance was that t lie quota was exceeded to such an extent that the position of other fishermen would have been prejudiced if the wbsii catch had been purchased."