OYSTER FISHERIES.
Most people know that several of the Auckland oyster beds have been declared closed, and in the annual report of the Marine Department tke reasons for this step, and the necessity for regulating the oyster fisheries generally, are shown. It appears that owing to the reckless way in which the rock-oyster fisheries had been worked it was found necessary, in order to prevent their absolute destruction, to close the beds at Whangaroi, the Hauraki Gulf, and the coast and harbors between 'Bream Head and a point just north of tho Bay of Islands for a period of three years. It is hoped that by the end of that time .tho beds will have recovered. It was reported that one of the main causes of the beds having been so nearly destroyed was that the oysters wore frequently stripped from the rocks with spades, which reckless operation cleared away the small with the marketable oystere. In order to prevent' this an Ordcr-in-Council was made providing that no spade or other apparatus for taking rock oysters shall be used of which the edge or blade shall exceed 2in in width. An Order-in-Council was also made under the provisions of the Fisheries Encouragement Act, 1885, prohibiting tho exportation of rock oysters from the colony. To show what reckless working of even the most prolific beds may enect, it is stated that in Tasmania, years ago, 22,600,000 of oysters were dredged andex' ported of the value of £93,000, a snm more than tho equivalent of the value of tho exports of grain, hay, flour, and bran from Tasmania for three years. By dver-fiahing the yield of the beds has been reduced to 100,000 a year, and a productive source of wealth almost entirely ruined.
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Bibliographic details
Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7525, 27 August 1886, Page 2
Word Count
292OYSTER FISHERIES. Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7525, 27 August 1886, Page 2
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