FORTY TONS OF FISH.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 457, 16 March 1909, Page 5

FORTY TONS OF FISH.

AN ENORMOUS HAUL OF WHAREHOU. HOW THEY ARE CAUGHT. Probably tho most remarkable haul of fish yet recorded in Wellington was netted by'.local fishermen off Flat Point—a 1 little to tho south of Pencarrow Head—yesterday morning. Five big trawlers, each fitted with an auxiliary engine, came into Wellington at 10 o'clock yesterday morning, laden down to the gunwale with wharehou fish—one of the finest boiliug and baking fish that these waters produce. . The fishermen had expected a good wharo- ■ hou season, but they never exactly know un r til they come along, and when it is a good season the fish come in solid shoals, and it is only possible to tako as many as the nets will hold—a minuto percentage of. the finny visitors. Wharehou has been plentiful for tho last four, days near the Heads. Fifteen tons were taken on Sunday, but yesterday the catch must have reached nearer forty tons, yet despite tho enormous numbers the fish.(which average about 81b. each) are in Bpleridid condition. During such times as tho present the lot,of the fisherman is a hard one. This is tho time when he can, , by. making stronuous efforts, get a little ahead of a "bread-and-butter" wage on which he exists for tho greater part of the year. The cry of "Wharehou!" is to'the local fisherman like a blast of. the bugle to the soldier. He knows that it will only last for a'few days, perhaps even a couple ,of weeks, and then the fish vanish, not to return, perhaps, for three or four years, /Hie system of arranging these enormous catches js.unique. .The men watch the fish advance into the shallow waters, ahd then drop fourfathom nets across the little bays, 110 fish o cannot escape, and are hauled shoreward to. die enmeshed in the lattice-work' of string that cuts them off from. their native element.'/.':, /: ■ This.is.not the first occasion that wharehou have been caught in such quantities in /Wellington. It is their habit to visit the ' coast adjacent to Wellington between March and Jul};. On. tho last occasion when such an . invasion ivrus recorded the big catch was made at Wharehou Bay (Makara), and the fish had to bo brought into town by drays. Oh this occasion the boats have to come right into town with fish, which makes the work still more arduous. It is the intention of the fishermen to send, several tons of 4 wharehou to Sydney by the nest direct boat. '