OUR FISHERIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 107, 17 March 1864, Page 3

OUR FISHERIES.

This very branch of industry which one would ! have moM expected to have seen developed in ; a sea-girt country like IS'ew Zealand, pierced ! with numberless mli-is and creeks, has been I mo.-t simiulavly neglected. So much so that j many of shun, residence amongst ih at once selI tie down into the belief that the iish in these seas are very inferior ;o what those are in any other part of the world. AVe can .scarcely wonj der that thi> is the ca-e when we relied that the staple fish vended in Auckland is the schuapper : —schuapper. always, schuapper. True, luulk'l, I and paliki or fiat iMi. occasionally a wapuka :i j yellow tail, or more iVeouenily a glut of kawai. j a lish very little superior to (lie schuapper, iind ; their way of town ; but lish, more particularly of ' late, instead of afibrding a cheap and plentiful j supply.of food to the poorer classes, has become a luxury which even the rich can scarcely obtain. I Any one. however, who should suppose that ■ there is any deficiency of the finest and most ! delicately flavoured lish in this pari of _\'ew Zealand would greatly err in coming to so sudden a conclusion. Schuapper and kawai are both coarse iish, and have simply been much used for the reason that they have been the most easily caught according to the Maori custom of fishiug wilh hook and line : but all the other varieties mentioned above, and many others, abound in one part or oilier <.'{' the coast, and the value of them in a culinary point of view may be deduced from (he eagerness with which (lieyareboughtup, from and I lie price which they command. Few | mullet ever get carried any distance from the j (,'ueen-stree! "Wharf, but are eagerly snapped up : from the .Maoris by pedestrians in the <treet ana ■ there an; few, even in conventional Auckland, | who would hesitaie a moment between carrying } mullet, through the streets, and going without a ■ luxury which can only be enjoyed at rare ] intervals. j One great obstacle, we believe, which has pre- ! vented many persons from engaging in fishing, ! as a regular pursuit, is fear of being unable to j compete with native labor. The Maoris at times, : when they did bring lish to Auckland which i they cannot do now,completely glutfcdthemarket for a. day or two, though perhaps for several ; days after scarcely a fish would make its ap- | pearance. AVhalever obstacle this might have l presented some time since, the position of the i Alaoris and the increase;! demand, consequent j on the rising price of butcher's meat, have al- ; together changed the aspect, of alfairs, and a i better opportunity of making the supply of lish : to the Auckhnd public a paying concern, either j to a public company or to individual enterprise, never presented itself than now. AVhat we want in Auckland is to see a regular fish shop established somewhere near the Wharf lor instance, where the various sorts of fish could be purchased by weight in cleanly, wholesome condition. Branch shops would doubtless be required and pay well. Fish might be supplied at so much cheaper a price than meat, and would form so very agreeable a change to the perpetual alternation from beef to mutton, that a. ready sale would be found for a larger quantity than is likely to be obtained, nor would any spasmodic, glutting of the market by the natives materially affect the trade, for few would buy the sun-dried fish which had been hawked for hours about the streets unless at a xcry much lower priec, and one of the chief aims persons taking up the trade would endeavour to carry out, would be to supply the market with the choicer varieties of lish such as the natives seldom bring to market. As we said befo-c excellent kinds of fish abound in this part of iN'ew Zealand. The wapuka, as rich and as line a fish as need be brought, to table, abounds among the rocks round the Hen and Chickens. Mullet, during a certain season of the year, swarm in the various salt-water creeks which indent our northern * j coast and may be taken sometimes in tons. j These latter unlike the wapukau, cannot be | taken with the hook, and are caught by netting ] the creeks. This indeed is the usual way in which the greatest bulk of the fish is caught. The creek is staked across the channel with strong stakes, the tops of which would reach some two feet above the high water mark. At low water the ends of the net, (which must be so deep that when the bottom row of meshes is pegged down into the mud it will allow of the top row being I drawn up and fastened to the stakes, at least one j foot above high water mark), are fastened to the stake at either end. The bottom of the next is I (hen pegged at intervals to the bed of the creek, i and the"net not being looped up to the top of the stakes bellies down and lies also on the bottom, 1 across the channel at least. It is left (litis until ' hh'h water when a person goes along the Imc of ! stakes and loops up the top of the not aootout :of the water to each of the slakes. 1"^ ■ which have passed up the creek with tho flood I tideoverthe.dackencd netarothuspreventedfrom ! v o ;„riiim'-withtheebb.andareleftdryatlowwater i alon" the inner side of the net. Tuese nets the ! Maoris usually construct of ilax, so they lust I but a short time compared to those constructed ! of cord. .MY..-1 kirn's of lish are caught by this mean j ! .-!;:.•! sometimes;- very iarge. quantities. There is !i;tk; iloi hi';:uct'_;:;t;>. company whichwouldestab- ;■•:,'■. regular 'IsLnng static:;:; in those places where p-a.-Ticuiar kind'.i o." fish especially abound, would be a Lie to keq>. the supplied, at ici.t v I__ rctov'- vfiilii?." tiiJ. _cl u:;cvc_t their Vrar:- item Vruifbjr them \u'.o tc-vn e._d,crC3

then, br the miction of cut-in? sheds, the fish uiiirht be preserved, and would command a ready sale ia that fo:-;n. \Yith went a! tenpci'.ce and elevenpence per lh.. and with cverv reason to believe that thai ]irice will rather'increase than decline. xvo are rcallv surprised to (i:ul that m> public company lias been formed to c:utv out the object we have now been advornlni.e. ' Y\\- are not 1 ike!v. for some time al least, to receive from the Maoris om- tithe oi'lhe (isli which would readily he consumed in Auckland. AVe l'.ave abundance of excellent fish swimming aliout our creeks and e -ast utterly innocent of :b.e natui-e of hook. line, j ■ •I-net. ami ready to become willing captives.! AVe have amongst us. too. very many who should he just the men to turn themselves to an occupation of this sort, which, though often hard ruou-h work, and dirty work. too. lias somethin"; ..fun excitim; nature 'about it and is preferable to ordiuarv drudgery. .Havine; all these necos,:;rv elements of sm'-e-s. liow is il that a fisiiiiiu o.mreanv ha.- never vet been fairly set ailoa! in ""'sillce':!..- ;:b.,-.- w.:- in type, we learn that two eiilerfrisim; Men have on their own account , underlakcn !•• supply tin- Auckland public with fresh fish. Tiicv' brou-ht some fine mullet ami paliki into lowi-.'vesier.l-iy. :i n,i state.! that thev | should return .-verv a'.-.ernat.- dav with ;i fresh simply. AVe wish'them i-wrv success; but such | sin.plv wiii nece-sai-iiv fail' far short of the ! demand.' ' __