THE FISH SUPPLY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12932, 27 September 1902, Page 2

THE FISH SUPPLY.

UNPRECEDENTED SCARCITY. RETAILERS SUGGEST CLOSING. DOWN. There is an unprecedented shortage in the fish supply in the city. At the.early sale in the public market yesterday morning there was not a single fish, and at the sale at 10.30 there was a very meagre supr ply. , . ■

Prices went up to absurdly high figures,. Small flounders, a little over the stafidardl size, sold in the open market at 14s 6d a dozen, or about Is 2d each. Crayfish, largo and small, were sold to the fishmongers at 12s a dozen ; butter fish, up to 3s each ; whitebait at 7s 9d a quart wholesale'; flounders 15s, 16s, 17s and 18s- a dozen; cod from 10s to 13s a dozen ; ling, 9s each j; and conger eels, 7s 6d. ■ The fishmongers state that they can do nothing. Some of them talk of putting up their shutters for a- time. A small shop in Colombo street on Thursday was closed on account of the lack of business. It opened again yesterday, but all the goods it displayed were some cockles and rabbits, The fishmongers state that the shortage has never been so great before, and they deplore their depleted windows. The same state of affairs seems to exist all over the colony. Advices from Auckland, Napier, Wellington, Dunedin, and the Bluff, state that the demand is far in excess of the supply. At Napier, 6d a pound is charged for flounders, irrespective of condition or quality. A letter from a fishmonger at Oamaru states that he has had practically nothing in his shop for three weeks. ', A local fishmonger, who has been im; porting from northern ports, including Nel-i, son, states that there is more fish consume® in Clu-istchurch than in any other contra in the colony. Even the imported, supplier have failed, to a certain extent. Flounders* are .specially scarce, the specimens in the windows being miserable ones, worth hardly half the price they realise. ) Half a dozen fishermen at Sumner, wha were interviewed, state that they have never had such a- bad time before. .)

“Not a man here,” one of them “ has earned at fishing, on the average* more than 10s a week since May. The industry has been going from bad to worse., It is almost dead now. We get no flounders now, and the other fish seem to have gone too. There is no work for us to do. Do you think I would remain idle here il there was anything to be done. .; “The river and estuary have been ruinedi for us by the tanneries, whiohypoison the water, so that even the eels will not live in it, if they can help it. As to the outside grounds, the fish seem to have deserted them because the food supplies have failed. Once we cortld trawl the beach from New Brighton np to Double Point, about forty miles olf, and get more flounders than wa wanted. *Now wo scarcely ever see a flounder. The weather may account for a good deal of the present unprecedented scarcity, but there is no doubt that the fish are leaving the locality, as the position gets worse each year. There is hardly that the depositing of dredging material from Lyttelton Harbour also has a good deal to do with the present position.”

LAKE ELLESMERE’S, THOUSANDS. Tim fishermen complain more bitterly than ever that they cannot net trout in Lake Ellesmere, and emphatically blame the Acclimatisation Society for the manner ini which the Lake has been over-grown by the Californian weed. They say-that the water, there is teeming with large trout, which ate “ eating their heads off,” as well as consuming the flounders and other fish. A man who fished in the Lake for many years attributes the scarcity of the flounders there to the presence of the trout. Another fisher states that £IOOO worth of gear is lying idle on 1 the Lake’s shores, ready to bo used. ' The fishmongers also urge that Lake Ellesmere, as well as other lakes, should ba thrown open to netting for trout. Two of them have offered to pay the Acclimatisation Society : license fees amounting to £2O each for the right to sell \ the trout caught in the Lake. It is pointed out that trout are sold in large quantities at country townships openly, but unlawfully, and the argument is that it would bo better to legalise the practice, as it will never be stopped, so that the residents in the city may participate in the advantages of plentiful supply of trout. Mr J. B. Fisher, president of the Acclimatisation Society, is of opinion that trout caught in the lakes should be, sold openly, so that it might be made to the general public, who, he thinks, might eat less meat and more fish. He does not sea why the public, who own the waters, which, are now very well stocked with trout, should not have opportunities- for enjoying a luxury' that really belongs to all. The smaller trout, he thinks, would get through, tho meshes of the nets, and the larger ones, which would be caught, would' be well out of the way. Dr E. ‘Moor-house, another member of the Acclimatisation Society, states that, in his opinion, the best plan would be to go back to a method proposed some time ago, when the Society decided to permit trout to be netted in the Lake, provided that all tho fish''taken were sold to the Society’s representative, licenses being granted to persons in the city to sell to the public. The Government prevented this being done oil » previous occasion, but it is probable that next session legislation will be introduced to legalise some such arrangement.