OUR FISHERIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7402, 10 August 1885, Page 5

OUR FISHERIES.

Mr. Horsbruoh, of Great Mercury Island, writes as follows :—"ln your issue of to-day you appear to have given undue emphasis to my remarks on the subject of labour in connection with a possible fishing industry. There is abundance of labour of a kind to be had, but what I wished to convey to you was that the home fisheries owe their magnitude and lucrativeness as much to the skill and energy of the fishing population as to the enterprise of the capitalist. The fishermen at homo are a people by themselves, possessing the necessary qualifications handed down for generations ; allied to the physique of a race which for centuries has been subjected to the rigorous selection of a severe climate, added to the privations incident to their calling. It is therefore a very natural inference that until we hav* such a population established on our coast, we can look for no large develop ment of the fishing industry. As a fact the Dutch fisheries were, owing to the superior skill displayed in them, for many years in advance of those of Great BritaiD, and it was only by skill required by the British fisherman at a latter date that matters were reversed. With regard to the local fisheries, I have given some time and attention to the matter, and am quite of the opinion that there is abundance of the raw material and large* and remunerative markets for all the products of the sea. But the system of taking the fish is quite inadequate to the production of a large and regular quantity in any given place, and until other methods are adopted the supplies will be limited and irregular. Hence, until we have men who can practice successfully the home methods in these waters we can look for no great returns from the fishing industry. The amount of these possible returns is much greater than is generally supposed, as apart from the food supply many products are manufactured from the waste and offal connected with a fishery. Amongst these, superphosphates and oil are most prominent as affording large returns from a small outlay on permanent plant, but it is needless to remark that the fishery must be carried out on a considerable scale to afford a necessary amount of material for such manufactures. In view of the question regarding the possible extent of fishing grounds on our coast, it is interesting to note two facts. First, that from various kinds of fish cast ashore in heavy weather there is every reason for believing that banks or shallows inhabited by edible classes of fish exist at some distance from land. Secondly, that within our hundred fathom lino we have considerably more ground than is possessed on the banks of New Foundland, where nearly all the fish are procured within r» line drawn three miles from the shore. This last fact makes it appear that the quality rather than the extent of the shallows or fishing grounds which mast be taken into consideration while discussing this matter."