Reaping The Silver Harvest Of The Deep Seas

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 65, 9 December 1938, Page 31 (Supplement)

Reaping The Silver Harvest Of The Deep Seas

From The Realm Of Tan gar oa Comes Rich Food

NEW ZEALAND waters teem with fish. Long ago, Captain James Cook, on his voyage of discovery, was struck by their abundance. They were a main and constant source of food to the coastal Maoris of yore. To-day there is talk of depletion and conservation, but the old fishermen say that there are still as many and as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it, and certainly Ime and seine and trawl still yield, a silver harvest to those who choose to wrest their living from the Ocean of Kiwa. 'rhe ancient Maoris ascribed to Tangaroa lordship over the creatures of the sea. To him they made their little invocations, before they cast their nets or lowered hook into the green depths. Whether it was the magic of a muttered charm, or the skill of a well-bent, wellbaited hook, they were most successful fishermen. They operated on a large, indeed often a gigantic, scale,, yet in five hundred years and more they did not materially deplete the fish-stocks of our coastal waters. .Captain Cook recorded that their nets were of great size; Gilbert Mair related that a seine more than a mile long was woven at Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty; it took more than 1000 men to haul it, and when the catch was numbered, besides sharks and “rubbish,” the tally told of upwards of 37,000 fish taken in it. Besides netting, the Maoris employed a vast range of other methods of securing fish, all effective, but now mostly abandoned in favour of European ways. . For few of our Dominion fishermen to-day arc Maoris; it is a strange fact that native-born New Zealanders play small part in this great industry. Orkney and Shetland Islanders, Scottish, Scandinavian, Dalmatian, and Italian migrants form by far the majority of the 3000-odd who garner the silver harvest. Modem Fishing Methods Vessels engaged, whole-time or part-time, in fishing number about 1350. Some 800 of these are the launches of line fishermen, and about 200 more are the rowboats of inshore and handline or seine-net men. In the whole Dominion are only some score of largish steam trawlers, although about 140 big launches specialise in trawling or Danish seine netting. The launches are restricted to working in relatively shallow water, so that most fishing in the Dominion goes on well within the 50-fathom mark, and beyond the 100-fathom line the fishing grounds are still more or less unprospected, aqua incognita. Line-fishing, then, is the most general mode of work. In the cold southern waters hand-lines are used to obtain blue cod, a fine, firm eating fish, or which quantities are exported. The Chatham Islands, Bluff, Stewart Island and Foveaux Strait are the main bluecod fisheries. From the Chathams some 17,279 hundredweight of blue cod were shipped to the mainland last year. Long lines, carrying several hundred hooks and left down for several hours before being revisited and examined, yield hapuku, or groper. While this form of fishing is carried on all around the coast, Cook Strait is one of the principal centres. The popularity of this type of fishing is due to its economy, requiring little outlay on gear, and often bringing remarkable catches to the one or two men taking part. Seine netting goes on wherever gently-shoaling beaches lead out to sandy bottom. It is the main source of flounders and soles, for which the public palate has ever a decided preference. The method consists, of course, in laying a net in a semicircle some distance out from shore, and then hauling it up on the beach by lines attached to the two ends. Danish seining is a modification that can be carried out in shallow waters by launches, without the need to drag the net ashore. In the shallows of the Manukau Harbour and the Thames Estuary, a great deal of Danish seining goes on, yielding flounder, tarakihi, schnapper, gurnard, John Dory, travalli and pioke. The catches of these boats are Auckland’s principal supply of fish, and Auckland is the main Dominion fishing port. The trawlers operate in the Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Cook Strait, Pegasus Bay and Canterbury Bight, and off Kaikoura and Otago Heads. Usually they stick to a few known and proved grounds, where they run no risk of wasting time or damaging their nets. These reasons also militate against the exploration of new fishing grounds. The fish caught in the otter-trawls are mostly tarakihi, schnapper,

groper, gurnard, mold, ling and hake. The tarakihi is at present a favourite food fish, but not a decade ago it was regarded as rubbish, and the first cargoes brought in to Wellington had to be taken to sea again and dumped. There was no public demand. In the same way, many good food fish are wasted. The scores of swordfish landed annually at the biggame fishing resorts are actually delicious table fish. So are many species at present cast back by the trawlerhands. Shoals of sardines occur off the coast, but their capture is wholly unexploited. Indeed, many of the sub-tropical species which at present are untouched, and which frequent the northern waters in vast schools, would be of definite economic value. In 1936-37 the quantity of fish landed was 363,128 hundredweight, of a wholesale value of £388,744. Of this, shellfish and other fish to the value of £175.122 was exported, mostly to Australia. The Oyster Trade New Zealand, in addition, possesses a number of important off-shoots of the sea fisheries, which employ numbers of men and boats, and bring in valuable revenue. The oyster-beds of Foveaux Strait are famous, and produce approximately 60,000 sacks of shellfish yearly, to the value of some 1:40,000. Eight or nine small steamers working from Bluff dredge the beds during the open season. These oysters are of a particularly large and succulent species, Ostrea Angasi by name, and are greatly esteemed both in New Zealand and abroad. The value of those canned for export in 1935-36 was £6500, against- £34,800 for the total season’s catch. By far the greatest quantity is, of course, eaten in New Zealand. The value of those exported fresh is only about £2OOO a year. Besides the Foveaux Strait oysters, there are in northern waters extensive beds of the small, delicious rock oysters. Owing to the fact that this oyster is found on the foreshore rocks between the tide-marks, and in former years the extensive stripping of the oyster-beds threatened to exterminate the fish, the Marine Department took over the administration of the beds in 1908, since when all picking and marketing has been controlled by the State. It is an offence under the law for any casual beachcomber to knock these oysters off the rocks and eat them, much less gather for commercial purposes. The administration of the beds brings as a rule but small profit into the coffers of the State. In 1934, the peak year, there was a clear profit of £BOO, but the following year the cost of picking, marketing and patrolling, with the upkeep and depreciation of the necessary launches, amounted to £4542, while the sale of the shellfish returned no more than £3765. The scheme has, however, resulted in the conservation and extension of the beds, and, in addition, cultivated oysters are farmed by the Marine De-

partment in the Hauraki Gulf, Bay of Plenty, and Kaipara waters. An interesting shellfish peculiar to New Zealanil and of considerable commercial value is the toheroa, a clam found buried in the sand between the tidemarks on the Ninety-Mile, Waikanae, Oreti and Ohopi Beaches, and other spots on the coast. It is highly esteemed by gourmets, and the green glutinous soup made from it is regarded as a national delicacy. Toheroa* .ire dug extensively by the Maoris, and quantities are canned for export. Native Whitebait The New Zealand whitebait, a very different creature to the fishlet known in England by that name provides a seasonal calling for many fishermen, particularly of the Maori race. These are the young of the manga minnow, or silvery, common in the mouths of many New Zealand streams. In July the young fish, about two inches long and semi-transparent, enter the. rivers in shoals, and are taken in dip-nets from the banks. The main rivers where they abound are the Waikato, Manawatu, Grey, Arahura, Waimakariri and Wanganui. The average season’s catch amounts to about 3000 hundredweight, and as they are an expensive delicacy and retailed in small quantities, the value of the seasonal haul is about £35,000. In 1936, which was a particularly good season, more than 85.5001 b. of whitebait were canned and exported, the value being about £B6OO. So it will be seen that these tiny fish form the basis of quite an important industry. Crayfish abound off the coast. They are taken now, as they were formerly by the Maori, with pot traps baited with the black meat of the paua or abalone. In many places they are taken in large numbers in the trawl and seine nets of the wet-fish catchers, but even with the pots large quantities are easily obtained, and, in consequence, they figure largely on the marble slabs of the fish shops. Some time ago a tentative export trade in frozen crayfish tails was initiated, but received a setback from various European import restrictions. Other minor fisheries are the quinnat salmon and eel trades. Both are at present small. The quinnat, which run in certain snow-fed South Island rivers, are taken in February, March and April by seinenetting and rod-fishing in the Rakaia and Waimakariri. Selling licences as well as fishing licences are necessary for their capture. Eels abound in New Zealand rivers, and descend in autumn to spawn at sea. The Maoris, who, in many parts of the country, still rely on eels to a great extent as a food supply, trap them in large numbers on their annual migration, while spear and “bob” are other methods used for their capture.

There is no doubt that at present fish plays a much smaller part in the diet of the New Zealander than in that of Scottish or English, or inhabitants of other seaboard lands.