FISHERY RESOURCES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1937, Page 6

FISHERY RESOURCES

NEW ZEALAND WATERS

WORK OF DEPARTMENT

In his section of the Marine Department report for the year ended March 31 last, which has been tabled in the House of Representatives, the Chief Inspector of Fisheries (Mr. A. E. Hefford) states that while the Department has made steady progress, its knowledge of the capital stocks of fish available for exploitation proceeds very slowly because it is not yet equipped to acquire such knowledge by special investigations such as have been carried on during the past thirty years or more by all civilised countries that take a serious interest in their fishery resources. There are, fortunately, prospects at last of some development in this direction.

Beneficial results may be anticipated from the exhaustive inquiry into the fish trade and fishing conditions throughout the Dominion made by the Sea Fisheries Investigation Committee. For the first time in the Dominion the ! catching of fish and its subsequent handling and distribution will bo considered together as aspects of the same set of problems, says Mr. Hefford. He remarks that the conditions hitherto existing appear to have done no good to any New Zealander, least of all to the consumers of fish among the general public. DEMAND FOB TUNA. Mr. Hefford refers to the exploratory voyage of tuna made in northern waters early this year by an Auckland fishing vessel. The weather conditions were, on the whole, decidedly unfavourable, he comments, and ' this, together with the general inclemency of the 1936-37 summer, may be held accountable for the few fish caught. At the present time there is apparently an unsatisfied demand for these fish for canning purposes in the United States., There is no doubt as to their seasonal occurrence in New Zealand seas, more especially between North Cape and the Bay of Plenty. Whether they can be caught in sufficient abundance and got to market or to a freezer at work- j ipg costs that would provide for a profitable Industry must for the present be left an open question. The only way to provide an answer is by direct fishing experiments, and since these could hardly be profitable in their early stage there appears to be good ground for the Department assisting as far as possible in this exploratory work. The development of a .new line of commercial fishing in New Zealand for kinds hitherto unexploited would be welcomed only to relieve the pressure on stocks which show evidence of having been over-fished. Sincere appreciation of the services given by the Fresh-water Research Committee of the New Zealand acclimatisation societies is expressed by Mr. Hefford.