GOOD SEA FISHING IN SOUNDS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 117, 11 February 1941, Page 6

GOOD SEA FISHING IN SOUNDS

Many Cod And Schnapper

SHARK AND BARRACOUTA

ALSO NUMEROUS

Fishing iu the Marlborough Sounds has been particularly good this year. Even iu Queen Charlotte Sound, where the large number of holiday visitors always results'in extremely heavy fishing of favourite grounds, there has been an abundance of large blue, cod, red cod, and schnapper. Shoals of herring, garfish and pilchard have attracted into the sound many kingfish, barracouta, sharks ami other predaceous fish. Captain Cook, first European visitor to the sound, recorded the extraordinary quantities of fish obtainable with net or handline there, 170 years ago. In the intervening years, however, the oldtime theory that there were as many and good fish in the sea as ever were taken out of it has been disproved. It has been proved that constant aud indiscriminate fishing will soon deplete even the finest fishing grounds. In Queen Charlotte Sound fishing was for many years not merely indiscriminate but wasteful. Enormous quantities of fish were taken by fishing parties simply for the pleasure of hauling them out of the sea, aud were afterward ofteu thrown away unwanted. In time, it became apparent that the main fishing grounds, iu Queen Charlotte Sound were being “fished out.” Instead of blue cod nearly as loug as a man’s forearm and considerably thicker, only small fry we're being caught, and those in decreasing numbers. At the same time, the proportion of useless fish—“spotties,” “Maori chiefs” and so forth, showed a marked increase. A system of conservation, by prohibiting taking of small cod, limiting the number to be caught by pleasure fishermen, and restriction of netting, was consequently inaugurated by the fisheries branch of the Marine Department. Though such restrictions were difficult to enforce, and are no doubt frequently disregarded, they no doubt have contributed largely to the improvement noticeable this year. Many local residents attribute the abundance of fish to the warm spring and summer, and resultant high temperature of the waters of the sound. There has been am unusual abundance of whale food, plankton and other marine life which forms the food supply for the shoals of small fry on which the larger species feed. Whatever the cause, the fish have been unusually plentiful. Though such hard-worked grounds as those off Alport Island and Motuara still yield mainly small fry, most of the lesser-known localities have yielded splendid fish, avid of the bait. A schnapper weighing nearly 30 pounds was taken recently at Double Bay, just across the sound from Picton, and good catches of senapper have been made at the Grove wharf and in the Grove reach. At. the head of the sound red cod have been very numerous. Many kingfish have been reported by the launchmen, as well as an unusual number of large sharks. Sharps up to Bft. have been caught in various parts of the sound this year, and a five-foot specimen taken on a setline near the bead of the sound was found to contain 24 young ones on the point of being born. Some very large barracouta. have been caught, mainly near the mouth of the sound. This year most of the sounds guesthouses have been crowded, and the launch parties fishing in most of the nearer waters have been numerous. Fishing in the remoter waters, Tory Channel, Peloi'us Sound, the outside bays, and off d’Urville and the Chetwode Islands, has also been very good. A larger number of professional fishermen and launches has been operating on this part of the coast this year, as a result of the diversion of trawlers for war purposes.