Whitebait Canning Industry Is Facing A Crisis ?

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 October 1948, Page 5

Whitebait Canning Industry Is Facing A Crisis ?

The whitebait canning industry on the West Coast is facing what may well be a crisis, and, unless new markets are found to replace those largely lost in Australia as a result of the * price increases there which followed automatically from the alteration in the New Zealand rate of exchange, this season may see the end of what promised to be a substantial industry. This is the general view of members of firms operating canning factories on the West Coast, where thousands of cans of whitebait were packed for export last year. Australia is New Zealand’s biggest market for canned whitebait, the better quality bait caught here allowing this country to compfete successfully with supplies caught in Tasmania, the only other place in Australia and New Zealand where the fish is netted in any quantity. Australian Demand

New Zealand whitebait had been in great demand in Australia,- but since the alteration in exchange very little had been dispatched to the Commonwealth by his or any other company, said a representative of a Greymouth firm operating a South Westland canning factory, this afternoon. The possibility of other markets was being thoroughly explored, he said, but no market was assured at the present time. “In the meantime, New Zealand will have more canned whitebait made available than in previous seasons, pending the success or otherwise of efforts to obtain new markets,” he said. , -j West Coast whitebait has gamed popularity in many widely-scattered parts of the world, ahd if satisfactory arrangements could be made . new markets would not be hard to find, it was stated by the spokesman of the company, who produced letters and private orders for cases of canned whitebait from residents of many countries.

Canning Operations

In the meantime, canning operations have commenced as usual and current plans envisage the calming of as much or more whitebait than, was produced during what was a record season last year. The season so far, however, has been poor and last month —the second of the season—one factory canned less than 150 lb. With the establishment of four whitebait canneries on the West Coast—one each at Bruce Bay, Okuru, Westport and Hokitika, where a modern factory was brought into operation this season —the industry last year began to assume sizeable proportions and showed signs of developing into a lucrative seasonal occupation. Substantial sums were earned last year by families who netted in South Westland rivers for whitebait and between “runs” worked in the nearby canneries to preserve their catches. These families were provided with accommodation by the canning factories whose presence has enabled South Westland streams to be more thoroughly fished than in the past when the transporting - of the bait from the isolated areas was a major problem.