THE FISHING INDUSTRY

Evening Star, Issue 16196, 18 August 1916, Page 2

THE FISHING INDUSTRY

AND THE BOARD OF TRADE.

MR THOMSON'S SCHEME

Tn reply to a letter from the New Zealand Board of Tfa.de in March last Mr G. M. Thomson,""chairman oT the Portobello Fish Hatchery Beard, wrote stating that ho would be ela<l to meet the hoard, and discuss the- fishing industry with the members', but he thought 'it "alto very desirable that Mr Anderton, curator of the marines fish hatchery, should be asked to k'ive his views. Mr" Anderton went Home at. the. instance of the Marine Department in 1912-13. tn~"bring out herring ova, as well an a stock of turbot, crabs, and lob- v stcrs. and he bar, looked carefully intp tho question both of the Hume fish "trade and that of iln.- Dominion. Ho can give a great deal "of most valuable information, and is very sound in his economic viewa ot; tho question. Mr Thomson goes on to «iv:

You suggest that 1 should" draft a detailed scheme for the fostering and regulation of tho fishing industry. I am not in a- position to do"so at present, for the data are not yet available, but I would threw out certain suggestions as to possible lintv. of action. PARTIAL NATIONALISATION.

(1.) One scheme is that the Government should nationalise tho industry nt one of tho main'ports by way of experiment, say, at Port rhaliiK'i's. t suggest tills place because 1 know iho condition. l ? here. Tins ■would inei.ii the erection of an establishment to deal with ail fish that came in, whether trawlrd or line fish. Ido not go the length of Misgesting that tho Govern, incut should purchase tho boats, or have their own- trawlers, but that they ehould puvchesi-. the fisli that conies in at a reasonable, figure. Such an establishment would iucjudc- (a) chining and packing •sheds. (I-) freezing-houses, (c) ice-makini: plant., fd) smoke-house, (o) oil-extracting apparatus, and (ft desiccator, grinding mill, and maiiure store.

'line fresh fish would be packed .in ico in I oxes for transmission by rail, ■and in this' condition could cither bo soid by auction to v rta ; ! !r;:de>-s or distributed. This latter would be a big indnstrr in itself. A certain quantity of Jix»"sh fish would, bo placed dadv (?) in the mnoke house, ho that delivery of frcshlv-smoked fish wniihl bo regular. All 'superfluity of fresh fish move than the clailv market'and the smoker would take could bo placed either in the freezer or in ice. Frozen fkn is more or less .spoiled for the market, but is pei teeth- £ond for the smoke-house, so that in had weather and at holidayseasons it would still ix- possible to keep the market supplied cither with fresh fish or fish taken fiom the freezers and smoked. If distribution were attempted, the. shops where fich i.-. sold should ba supplied with abundance, of ice. and the distributing raits, as well as the railway vane, should have insulated walls, and also bo supplied, with ice. A demand for fresh fish would be created it (ho conditions under which it vas supplied were improved, if the price "was kept at a. reasonable figure, and if a iv.ore. regular supply war- maintained. In •addition to the above, filleted fan could be prepared for (he local market and for export.

_AII parts of the fish refine, which, would yield oil would be put through the- oilextraction apparatus, not onlv for the intrinsic value- of tho oil obtained, but because flu- presence of oil lowers- the value of fish manure v:ry considerably. Iv.-.-rv particle of icui.se would then pass to the desiccator, ;m>! ;ifter thorough drving would Ixj crushed and rnixred. I sketch here the barest outline of what I think, with my present knowledge, would hi a feasible scheme, if it were decided that tin- Government should try the venture. l'trsoiui'Jy. J not hc-li-r/vo in (rovornment management of any industry. It is always exceptionally liable to be carried out in a. more or le?o p/erfuuetorv mauiier. I only suggest it as a possible e-ohitioii of a difficult problem, because hitherto private enterprise has signally failed to supply the public wants, so that a class ot food which Nature supplies to us in abundance becomes almost u. luxury bv the time it reaches the consumer. (2) A second surest-ion is that the G;>venmient should lake the initiatory steps ' to create an export trade in fish. ' Owiu<-r to tho abnormal war conditions, this would |be difficult to cany out just at'the. present, tune, but it would take a considerable time to i; : »;igurate. and when tho preliminary steps, had been carried out the positron migat be such as to facilitate tlv, rest of the operation. -['hii; trnf j e |, as l() he created, but if the encouragement were .liven to, it that, lite Government u-ave- to tile dany industry, and more recently to the fm.it industry, this export trade- in hsh would ere long become a most valuable J item ot national wealth. I TRIAL SHIPMKXTS.

| 1 would i-utggwt that the Uoveninunt t-Jiuuld conuuen.-,' by making trial .shipments (,i iiM:, \v'hieh"(-',-uld u> '•he .il'.gu Commissioner ana disposed of tnrough the agency of >-:ome approved firm, in the Home iish trade. The account sales could then be rendered here, and the who],. details ot each trau.-actinii ho published fur the public bemdit. It would rooh .appear whether aich a trade eouUi <,r eouiu no L he estabhnlu'd. It would be found that certain classes of ii.-?h would pay well to export, while others'might pay tetter to sell loeaily. '| he shiiimeiru could u'niy be arranged at first, in small lots—say. 10. 20, or 50 tons a.t a time, perhaps jiot/tu niuc-n! Shippers o: daily produce ami ot fio/.eu mutton v.onld ooject to irown fob going into holds alongside of their stuff," aim therefore insulated space would have to be. provided. '.this, 0 t court,-.', means increased expense, but it would bo all part or the initial expenditure which wotdd have to be faced in starting a new venture. Tho trial shipments amid bo undertaken :rom any port provided space coudl beivrocurcd. Again i would t-uggest- i'orr, Chalmers for a. beginning, because the business could be earned out through tho offiei.rs of the Maiine Fish Hatchery. If no vessel were available, the material touhl .still be prepared and forwarded to the Home-ward-bound ship at Lvttelton or Wellington, as the case might be. The trial shipments fihouid include- both, whole fish and llilct-ed fish, the latter being dipped m a. preserving fluid, the composition of which can readily be ascertain, d, before being packed in boxes and placed in freezing chambers. The following fish, could be sent home wnole :—(ii-oper. or hapuka. kingfch. (the southern species, P.romethichthvs pronictheus, not th c northern kingtfeh" which is a totally different species—Seriola lalandii), tu-g. red cod, barracouta, and skate. The following could be also tried m liliets:—Uroper, kingfisli, barracouta, red tod, ling, elephant fish, and dogfkh. lo take these in detail :

At present proper fetch a steadv price here, but the fishermen do not. get moro than, it to much an. a penny per pound, and the catch at Port Chalmers is limited (liy the fishermen thenwolves) to thrcs dozen rkh per boat. Jf tho fishermen wero sure of a. penny for every pound of grope:they could briii" in, thev would be well pleased. ■Kinglish is chiefly taken in the trawls; it generally yields" a better return than proper, and is a richer and fatter fish. It would almost certainly fetch a higher price in the Home market than any of tho other fish named. Barraoouta, of course, is a widelyknown fish. Its eaten is peculiar, and very simple, and it is occasionally taken in the trawl nets. T do not know at all how u would take in tho Home market. The New Zealand ding is a different species from the Home fish of the same name, but is similar in general appearance and character. Th-.> fish are sold at a shilling' to eiehksnpence a piece, but the local demand is limited, and of late great numbers of the fish have been thrown overboard, as they were unsaleable.. The ekata is also a different' fish from the British skate, but is just about equally good. At present it is thrown overboard as soon as caught, but would command a good price in the Home market. Being a hat fish it would pack easily. I understand that a trial shipment of this fish made, some years ago by the late Mr F. j. Sullivan, gave a very good return. • Unfortunately that gentleman also tried eoiea and flounders in the same consignment. These fish, a*; a rule, fetch a good price in the local markets, but were not readily saleable at Home, as they were recognised

as a different fish from tho riatlte article or the-same lianie, and he lost, money on this portion of the -venture. Tho red cod is condemned here, because it is a soft fish, and is so extraordinarily abundant at certain times of the'year as to be a glub on tho market. It "is just about as good a fish as the Home whiting, which always brings a good price, and as a fieii for smoking it falls little short of the haddock. A halfpenny would be a good price for it at Port Chalmers at almost any time o- the year. The elephant fish and the dogfish are thrown overboard when caught. The former arc frequently caught by tho ten in the trawl, and the latter are taken both in the trawls and by the line men. The whole fish would probably not pell, a . s people are prejudiced against, anything 0 f blie shark tribe, but their flesh—sepoc'iallv that of the elephant lielv—is excellent, and makes excellent fillets.

The southern seas do not contain manv schnappcr, still fewer kahawui, and no kanae or northern mullet, but there fish are. obtninable in-'immense 'quantity and at low, prices in the North Island waters. Nor have 1 mentioned warehou, trevalli. trumpeter, moki. hake, gurnard; etc. 1 have for the isakPof this question confined myself to the commoner fish taken on the Otago co;t,st. Probably a penny a pound to the fishermen would bs a good average price for these coarse lish. Much of it. would fetch less, but it would pay both line men and trawlers well to get a pennv for their catch of these kinds. Thus "36 proper, averaging only 20lb apiece (a low figure), would mcii.ii £3 per catch. I think such an average would pay the men well, seeing that these are usually only part of their catch. I have seen tons of elephant fu-h t-aken in the trawlers, and just dumped overboard as soon as the nets wero emptied; hut it would pay to-deliver these fish in Port Chalmers at M per lb, or £4 13s 4d per ton, rather than get nothing for their labor, as at present. G roper and suchlike fish, cleaned, headed, packed, and frozen, could probably be landed in' London (at pre-war rates) for lJ,d per pound over and abovo prime cost here ; and 4cl would yield a good margin of profit. lielore the war upset prices the consolidated Charge on -frozen mutton (killing, cleaning sacking, freezing, freight, delivers in London, commission, etc.("amounted to 1 l-10d per pound, so that IJd for fish is not too low.

As for filleted, fish, the retail prico in England ami Scotland for this article o r io-.)d—labelled "smoked fillet "—before the war was 7d per pound ; in New Zealand Is 3d - was asked, and obtained for it. Again there is evidently a good margin or profit.

Thus matter of exporting fish is o r ccnircc, quite distinct from" that of' the internal, or local supply, and only indirectly bears on the question of the'cost of living. But if a trade in this direction were once firmly established it would ensure .such improved conditions for the fishermen that it would most certain'!*improve the legularity of the supply. (To be continued.)