Whitebait By The- Ton: West Coast Survey

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1950, Page 2

Whitebait By The- Ton: West Coast Survey

Possibly the last season—of a duration of four and a half months, the 1950 whitebait season will end on Friday. The final returns, when available, will probably prove it to be the worst on record since commercial fishing began on a large scale in South Westland. The poor season has been a blow to an industry that was beginning to flourish, particularly as quicker transport had brought the isolated South Westland areas into range of a market and as canning factories took up sites to handle whitebait which could not be sent in time to a market. Last season 265 tons of whitebait were caught on the West Coast — more than the amount caught in the whole of New Zealand in the previous season. This year’s, returns will be but a fraction of that total.

Factories Idle

Not all the whitebait canning factories on the West Coast operated this season. Those that did canned only limited quantities to meet orders. South Westland rivers provided more than half of the West t Coast catch last season.. From 15 ' rivers belcw Ross, 3046 cwt or more than 150 tons of whitebait were canned or sent to markets. The Hokitika area, which embraces the Hokitika, Mahinapua, Arahura and Totara (Ross) rivers, produced 671 cwt, or 33 tons, while the Buller region produced 1316 cwt or 65 tons. This total came from six rivers, from Totara to Karamea. The Greymouth area produced at least—277 cwt, or almost 14 tons. This quantity came from three rivers—the Grey, Taramakau and New rivers. Last season’s total catch of 5310 cwt —this is estimated from returns by buyers, professional fishermen and by estimates of private catches — was bigger than the total New Zealand catch of 4517 cwt, of 220 tons, in 1948, but this was a relatively poor season for, in 1947 7056 cwt or 350 tons were caught. The relatively low return for the West Coast for 1948 was mainly occasioned by a > small catch in South Westland, where the total was only 940 cwt compared with last season’s 3046 (a record). Hokitika catches amounted to 619 cwt, Greymouth’s to 225 cwt and Westport’s to 1042—the biggest of’ any area. The full West Coast total was 141 tons.

The 1949 catch of 4517 cwt was valued at £73,855.

1785 Fishermen

Incidentally, the number of men engaged in whitebaiting on the West Coast is assessed by the Marine Department to be 1200 casuals and 585 regulars. South Westland is shown as having 307 regular fishermen 50 casuals, Hokitika 183 regulars and 619 casuals, Greymouth 38 regulars and 320 casuals and Westport 57 regulars and 480 casuals. The 1947 season was relatively good with West Coast supplying the bulk of the 350 tons caught in New Zealand. South Westland produced 2568 cwt, Ross 310 cwt, Hokitika 552 cwt, Greymouth 452 cwt and Westport 1257 cwt. In 1946, the New Zealand catch was 6578 cwt and South Westland -supplied

1245 cwt, Ross 96, Hokitika 673, Greymouth 263 and Westport 1568.

Earlier Year? In 1945, 8698 cwt were caught in the country, and South Westland fishermen caught 2432 cwt. Hokitika rivers gave up 1203 cwt, Greymouth s 268 and Westport’s 1196 cwt. Grey district rivers continued to play a small part in the whitebait industry in 1944, producing only 152 cwt. South Westland supplied 2210, Hokitika 860 Westport—smlall this year—723 cwt. The total New Zealand catch was 6172 cwt. Though many claim the whitebait to have been gradually disappearing from West Coast rivers in the past few years, a comparison with the returns for the 1935 season show that there has been an improvement since. In that season, only 1888 cwt were caught throughout New Zealand, 125 cwt coming from Westport, 121 from Greymouth and 243 from Hokitika. South Westland was not fished commercially then.