AUCKLAND'S SEA HARVESTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13262, 22 August 1906, Page 4

AUCKLAND'S SEA HARVESTS

THE GREAT COASTAL FISHERIES.

POSSIBILITY FOE ENORMOUS

EXPANSION

LOCAL MARKET'S SUPPLY.

The tush supply coming into Auckland city at the present time is worth, on a wholesale value, about. £22,000 per annum, and this is a conservative estimate based on actual figures shown a. Hkkalu representative by those engaged in the trade. One firm alone- purchases £11,000 worth per ■ annum. At the present time the supply is never greater than the demand, and the prices the consumer pays are higher than they should be, considering the vast extent of the Auckland fisheries. From the North (Jape, along either coast of the province, .the waters teem with fish, there being ' nearly 40 different eatable varieties, of which the regulations under the Sea ' Fisheries Act recognise nearly half. The chief trade at present is in schnapper, mullet, flounder, and hapuka, cod being comparatively scarce in these waters, while there in also a very considerable trade in crayfish and oysters. The industry having assumed such important proportions, it would naturally be considered that Government control would be such as to foster the trade as much as possible; that, however, is trot the case, and the old trouble of control from central offices in Wellington is continually cropping up, and the need of a local inspector with local knowledge unhampered by Departmental red tape is still felt. An instance is afforded in the oysterpicking branch. The Auckland inspector ,is a man with a thorough knowledge, and , is a- competent authority on the oyster-beds generally, but he has no power to open or close an, oyster-bed. That cherished privilege can only be exercised from Wellington, and the result is that oyster-beds are three deep for the. want of picking, and the public are deprived of a. regular and sufficient supply of the shellfish. Other harassing regulations are in force, which seem to indicate utter lack of local knowledge cm the paa-t of the fminers. THE SCOPE FOR DEVELOPMENT. '; In. the first place it is beyond question that-the fisheries of Auckland offer very great scope for development. From Manukau up the West Coast, to the North Cape, and from East Cape, above Poverty Bay, ou the East Coast, to Parengarenga Harbour, there axe coast lines which could scarcely be surpassed as fishing grounds, with many sheltered inlets and harbours, , innumerable reefs and banks and islands •which provide exceptionally favourable conditions for fisheries, and the supply may •practically be said to be inexhaustible, because ihe coasts, lying as they do between the sub-tropic and temperate latitudes, receive the great fish shoals from the most extensive temperate oceans in the world. Moreover, the genial climate and the. multiplicity of sheltered nooks "makes fishing possible almost every day in the year, and yet, strange to say, the --colony is actually importing fish, potted and preserved, to the amount of more than £42.000 per annum, and is exporting "under half that value.

Of course it may be said that New Zea- ' land is a young country, and lias not yet had opportunity to develop* all its 'industries, and that it is within comparatively recent date, that- the more rapid .ocean transit facilities were afforded, but Mill the local markets, at all events, should ~be-iak a position to receive all the fish necessary, without importing. The. country .people at present, are practically unable to .obtain fresh fish, and there is thus a. great market not yet tapped. Packed in ice at. the catching station, fish might be distributed throughout the colony from Auckland. It may be somewhat surprising to those accustomed to belittle local industries to learn that the Auckland coastlines give nearly as great an area of fishing-grounds as the whole of the British seas, and that the quantity of fish coming to the Auckland coasts is as great, if not greater, than that visiting the North Sea or the Tish Sea. British fishermen take, as their harvest from the sea, about £10,000,000 worth of fish annually, American fishermen over £8,000,000 worth, Russian fishermen over £5,000,000 worth, and Canadian. £4,000,000 worth, and the fishing industry in Europe «nd America employs nearly as many men as there are people in New Zealand, so that it will be readily seen there must be a source of great wealth lying at our doors. In fact, between the Huaraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty alone, the shoals of fish are of far greater total food value than all the flocks and herds of Auckland province, and fish, as taken from the sea. represent little less in food value than their weight in cattle and sheep. Very little, comparatively speaking, is known of the deep sea fish around the Auckland coasts, those which do not come up to the harbours and islands and reefs, but haunt the deeper banks, and it is on such banks that most of the fishing in the Old World is done. Out of the 130 varieties at present known to exist in New Zealand waters at least 33 are marketable, while out of 208 varieties in British waters only 40 are marketable. Only about half-a-dozen varieties find their way to the Auckland markets now, hut there is immense possibility before a fish freezing industry for the supply of colonial and overmen markets. THE INEDIBLE FISH. That a fish is not suited for human consumption is not to say that it might not have great commercial value. Indeed, there are fish, such as the whale, shark, porpoise, black fish, and several others,, which have very considerable value, but are not ■used as food. Sharks are only too plentiful on the Auckland coasts, but now, happily, the shark fertiliser industry has been established, and the specimens of the fertiliser are quite up to the standard required by the Agricultural Department, and the destruction of the shark will also have a beneficial effect on the fishing industry. .Meanwhile, the colony imports bonedust and guano in large quantities, while there is an unlimited supply of fish manure ready to hand. In addition to the fish which .have value for fish manure purposes, (hero is that curious marine creature known as whale feed, and this might be taken at certain seasons by the thousands of tons, arid converted into a splendid manure. The seas are alive with fish, and Auckland lias before it the possibility of establishing very great and extensive industries all along its coasts. THE LOCAL MARKET'S SUPPLY. Auckland Oily probably has (he cheapest and most abundant fish supply of any ol the four centres, and at present it is actually supplying Taranaki towns and Christchurch, but nevertheless' the supply 'i neither so cheap nor so plentiful as it might be. What is the reason? A Herald representative making inquiries was told that fish would never be as plentiful or cheap as it should be while trawling was not permitted in the Hauraki Gulf, that the line arid net fishers did not. bother very much so long as they <caught enough to provide themselves with a fair living; that of about 200 or more fishing boats registered at Auckland not half of them were actively engaged, the owners engaging in the fishing only as subsidiary to some other form of employment; that fish were deserting the gulf * that fish were not deserting the gulf, but food was so very plentiful everywhere that line-fishing was not what it used to be; that trawling would do good by thinning out the -fish a little; that any removed by trawling would be replaced by equal numbers coining in; that trawling would deplete the fishing grounds to such extent a<& to ruin the gulf for fishing purposes, and a host of other reasons too mimerous to mention, and obviously of the character, although told under different cir.

eunistances. of the " really true" fish story related on the balcony over wines and cigars after dinner.

Tli© sifting of the chaff to gel at the tine grain is always a difficult process, but to t.ike the trawling question first, apparently this only tenable argument against trawling in Hauraki Gulf is the fact that it ■would enable a few men to place fish on the market so cheaply, and in such abundance, that the Thames and Auckland fishermen might be deprived of a living. Most careful inquiry was made amongst those -who should know on the point of whether trawling would or would not injure the fishing grounds. Without going into a variety of interviews, it i.s sufficient to state that the consensus of opinion unhesitatingly was that the fish do not spawn to any great extent in Hauraki Gulf, that the shoals of fish are constantly on the move, and the food supply, not only in the gulf, but nil along the coasts. 19 abundant., and therefore trawling would not deplete the supply, for as fast as fish were taken from the gulf their places would be tilled bv others from outside.

Mr. A. San ford, who possesses a trawler, now lying idle, was asked why it could not be put to good use outside the gulf, and lie replied that trawling outside the gulf would not pay in competition with the line and net fishing. To make trawling profitable, it would hive to be carried on in the gulf during such time as the weathei outside rendered it impossible to cany on operations. He could not. afford to keep the trawler in commis- j sion only for such periods as it was pos- ; sible to work outride, 'I At. the present time there are several mullet canning factories in Auckland, but ' mullet is not the only li-h suitable for export. The only export is in frozen fish, and that trade so far, is comparatively very small. Hut there is no reason, even allowing the question of export to stand over for a while, why there should not be great- development in connection with local markets. It is admittedly possible to send fresh fish all over the colony from Auckland, and when the Main Trunk line is opened there will possibly he a daily supply going down to Wellington. A fish diet is a luxury in very many parts of New Zealand, and even in the country districts of Auckland province, where carriage charges total more than the value of the fish itself. Some provision might at least be made to convey cheap fish and cheap Island fruit to them. FISH FROM THE RAY OF PLENTY. An important development in connection with the fishing industry is now taking place at the Ray of Plenty, and the extensive grounds teeming with fish, in that locality, are about to be exploited to a very considerable extent. Mi. Sanford, the Auckland fish merchant, realising that as the fish supply from the gulf decreased in the winter time, and as the population of Auckland increased, there would come a time when fish might be at prohibitive prices, if procurable at all. has resolved upon establishing a. station near Tauranga. At present, owing to uncertainty about the running of the steamers, it would be almost impossible in warm weather to convey fresh fish to the Auckland market without risk of very serious loss, unless the fish were packed in ice. This season, during the colder weather, fresh lish have been brought up from Tauranga. but the supply is uncertain. Mr. Sanford has therefore decided to erect a plant near lauranga, for smoking fish, the very large variety found there being especially suited to smoking, and these smoked fish will be shipped direct to Auckland. This enterprise will also have the effect of increasing the fresh fish supply, because less of the fresh fish from the gulf will require to be smoked. Possibly, at some future time, the packing of fish in ice will be carried on at Tauranga, as it now is at the Thames. At present snob great quantities of fish may be caught with line and net in the Bay of Plenty that trawling is unnecessary. To what extent the Bay of Plenty fisheries may cheapen! fish in Auckland, and increase the supply, remains to be seen, but it is certain that Auckland, surrounded as it is by some of the finest fishing grounds in the world, is entitled to have available for its markets such a supply of fish as will enable any person and every person to have one fish meal a day at the lowest possible cost, and any lestrietions or regulations which go to i prevent this are manifestly uncalled for, and an imposition which should not be tolerated.