Alternative Fishing “Must Be Found”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30593, 9 November 1964, Page 8

Alternative Fishing “Must Be Found”

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Nov. 6.

The acclimatisation movement was at the crossroads, said the retiring president of the North Island Acclimatisation Societies (Mr S. J. Snow) at the annual meeting of the council at Devonport today.

“With hydro schemes, indiscriminate use of pesticides, catchment boards, increased rod and gun pressure and closer settlement, our problems are magnified every day,” he said.

The Government, in spite of repeated requests, had taken no action to hold discussions on the introduction of bass, said Mr Snow. The development of the Tongariro scheme was just another reason why alternative fishing had to be found. He said he did not think any great disturbance would be caused to scenery, but fishing would be seriously affected under present arrangements. No manipulation of water levels by human hands could compete or compare with nature. Waikato River A clear example of that was the fishing water of the Waikato river from the outlet of Lake Taupo down to the first dam. Since the raising and lowering of the river level by the gates, what was one of the finest river fishing waters had been completely ruined. Unless some action was taken to have the run-off from the Tokaanu power

house diverted into the Lower Tongariro, instead of filtering out through the swamp as was now intended, the greatest fishing place in the world would be completely lost. The societies will ask the Government, in the public interest, to extend the present territorial limit for fishing from three to 12 miles. “We all know the devastation that is being caused in the north by the Japanese fishing inside the three-mile limit,” said Mr A. J. Slade, of Whangarei. Throughout the world, he said, countries were extending the limit to 12 miles. The societies also decided to ask the Government to arrange an investigation into the methods employed by New Zealand commercial fishermen so that breeding and feeding grounds in coastal waters could be preserved.