RICH FISHING GROUNDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15520, 30 January 1914, Page 5

RICH FISHING GROUNDS.

i ♦ i INDUSTRY AT KAIPARA. i I GREAT UNDEVELOPED WEALTH. y j There are over 100 registered fishing boats r | in Kaipara waters, and half that number 3 ; are wholly engaged in fishing for profit, : j The balance of the boats are comn posed of pleasure launches, which are oc--6 casionally used in the industry. The daily I, summer catches aggregate two tons, and 18 embrace mostly schnapper, mullet, and 8 flounder. The latter, minus an inconsider- >- able consumption at .Helensville and y closely-restricted deliveries at other Kain para towns, are consigned by train to »r Auckland. >r . Till within the past year the bulk of the y mullet was forwarded to canning works 0 at Helensville and Batley, but owing to a ir scarcity of suitable fish, these works closed a down. Six months ago, however, new cans > ning works were established at Helens--136 ville and 21 men are now daily employed by the proprietary. The works can the bulk of the catches, which are sold by a fishermen at the rate of ls 6d per dozen for ly mullet, and 2s 6d per bundle of schnapper ;h of an average weight of 221b, and any over sh supply is forwarded to the Auckland a " j market. The tinned mullet is placed on ' the market in cases of four dozen at 22s ie 6d per case, and finds a ready sale. The n- bulk of the schnapper is smoked and is e, retailed at Helensville at 4d -per lb or Is re 6d for an average-sized fish, and surplus supplies are forwarded to the larger Kaik para towns and to Auckland, where they r( j find a ready sale." 1 is- Although the daily catches in the lower ve portion of the Northern Wairoa, Kaipara Heads, Lower Otamatea, and in the Kaiag para River are plentiful, there is a conag tinuous dearth of fresh fish for household >w use in Dargaville and other northern rn centres, and schnapper and mullet are often j s > vended at 3d per lb, whilst 2s 6d is dej®" manded for the smoked full-grown schnap- ~ per. The fishermen as a body, appear to ,8 be anything but satisfied with their share , of profits, and assert that when mullet is selling freely in the city at 6d each, they receive no extra remuneration for their . marine spoil, and they and northern consumers alike exhibit displeasure similar J to that voiced in Auckland, at existing x conditions. For some reason or other which invites investigation} there is a pronounced diminution of mullet in the various arms of the lii- Kaipara estuary. Not many years ago the ew jumping fish were so plentiful in the upper it reaches of the Northern Wairoa that they its commanded little sale, and at the spawnew ing season could be observed in hundreds as making their way up the Mangakahia ast 1 stream, 80 miles from the mouth of the 01 | harbour. A favourite way of securing them At j wad to paddle a boat at dusk of evening tnd close to the river banks, especially at aes ■ three-quarter flood tide, when the disld- turbance by the oars caused the fish to by jump, and in many instances to find a [he resting place within the craft. Catches of fill 100 fish within two hours by such means ine have been frequently recorded, but now a an- jumping fish in the waters noted is a ust rarity. rge Masters of vessels trading in the Kaiing para rivers state that more care is needed lite in the netting of flounders, for the present ence of many undersized dead flat fi Is- on the banks points to a system of cap»en ture which must ultimately prove ruiniedl ous to that phase of the fishing induelen try. the Men with a thorough knowledge oi out Kaipara fishing assert that in place of the ast mixed catches, now only aggregating twe tons daily, with proper organisation anc with a stable market, they could be in creased to eight tons, whilst outside the heads there are rich fishing grounds, the ■ins -wealth of which has on scores of occasion! has been tested. The spoil so gained by line ing fishing, would,. if related be unbelievable to the amateur angler. For the latter " ess immediately within the heads, there is « on " fishing domain second to none, where al see varieties of northern fish are said by the int. Maoris to be found, from the bulky king aps fish to the smallest class, and where the the excitement of shark hooking m&y ajsi in- be obtained. due Those competent to express an opinioi cia- a ver that a trawler equipped with freez jral ing chambers, could, off the Kaipara coas iiief in from ten to fourteen days, secure ii 'ing I fine, clear weather, 60 tons of marketable feci fish, which could be transhipped into th iin- insulated railway vans at Helensville :in thence it might go direct to th >ver city and be placed in cool chambers or b cow shipped direct to Sydney, where ther an is a bare market at nigh rates for Ne\ -on-1 Zealand schnapper and mullet.