HARVEST OF THE SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19799, 21 November 1927, Page 6

HARVEST OF THE SEA.

CITY'S FISH SUPPLY. [TOLL OF THE TRAWLERS. FIFTY TONS A DAY. DEMAND FROM THE SOUTH. Food and raiment! Round these two essential wants of man all the chief activities of a great city centre, with food, as a thrice-daily demand, a long way in the van. It is interesting to surmise what would be the effect of a realisation of the scientists' dream of the human race •nourished on laboratory-manufactured tablets; their boredom would be as complete as that of the over-led hen with the lack-lustre eye who has been deprived of the necessity for scratching for a living. From man's earliest beginnings the harvest of the sea has been one of his chief sources of food, and its garnering has brought him to closer grips with the •elements than even the harvest of the earth. To the rugged strength of character engendered by the struggle much of the greatness of sea-girt races is due, and from the humble industry art and literature have drawn much of their inspiration. Controversy may rage round the depletion of the fish supply by the various methods of netting employed in its gathering, but an inspection of the waterfront depots when either trawlers or the smaller launches and fishing smacks are discharging does not confirm any fears of a shortage. This is the flush season when the school fish are approaching the gulf, and the amount brought into Auckland averages over 50 tons a day. The city's ordinary consumption is not many tons short of that, but there is an unsatisfied demand from the South, both from the inland cities and even from such seaports as New Plymouth, Wanganui and Wellington. Interesting Varieties. Great heaps of irridescence, all mixed up and strewn with crushed ice, lie on the concrete floors ready for sorting. Bchnapper, schnapper, and again schnapper, with terakihi and trsvally next in quantity. Men are rapidly arranging them in boxes in neat layers, seizing long-handled shovels and ladling in a dressing of ice, nailing the boxes down and putting them to one side in readiness for railing to the southern market. The übiquitous schnapper retains its hold on the public taste, luckily, as it is always easiest to come by. Flounder is its greatest rival, but that is an expensive delicacy and the (Bupply uncertain. The trawlers have brought to our tables many varieties which, in the days of line-fishing and the smaller mullet boats, were not even known as names, Most of the haul being sorted is from the Manukau and the average size of the Bchnapper is much larger than in a catch from the gulf. Gurnard are in sufficient quantity to give a reddish tinge to the heaps. The pathetic little carcases with their folded fins have none of the radiant beauty they possess in their native element, where their wide-spread, blueepotted fins make them a veritable butterfly among fish. The gurnard is one of the few fishes which possesses the power of making audible sounds, and its gasping moans when caught give a shock to the amateur angler. Barracouta, that tiger of the sea, and hake, very similar to the untaught eye, are sorted out together, their probable late being smoking. A quantity of small dogfish, will grace the table as silver strip, or lemon fish, according to the mode of its preparation. The prejudice against its use under its own name is quite unjustified, as, though related to the shark family, it is no more a scavenger than a schnapper or any other bait-taking fish, and its voracious appetite and vast numbers take a heavy toll of more valuable varieties. Mullet, one of the table ports, and at one time the most plentiful, has either been depleted, or has changed its habitat, and the harvest, which at one time kept a number of West Coast canneries employed, has almost ceased. Some Bars Species. Frost fish, long iihining ribbons of silver, were at one time a rare delicacy, for .which fancy prices were paid, and which Were cast up on ocean beaches only in frosty weather, but now a fow specimens crop up in the hauls at any time of year. Bome solid fish with rotund figures like city aldermen, are marketed in steaks; of this group are hapuka (the groper of other waters), moki, small kingfish, and jvhareho. The last-named is a rather rare catch, and, as with all varieties of good table qualities that are in short supply, is put to one side for the clubs and residential hotels. ( John Dory is scarce at this time of year. {This is one of the most widely-distributed, and in the Northern Hemisphere, one of the most esteemed of food fishes. Its queer name, which one would suppose to have some connection with a dory, or Iboat, is really jaune dore, the French rendering of the golden yellow colouring worn by the Mediterranean species. Tradition has named it as one of the ''apostle " fishes, and has instanced the round black mark on its sides as the impress of Peter's thumb when he drew it from the sea to take from its mouth thff piece of silver for earthly tribute. Kahawai, one of the most plentiful ■pecies in New Zealand waters, occurring sometimes in solid shoals, is held in low esteem, but surely there are plenty of people who would forgive its lack of flavour for its undoubted food qualities if it could be bought cheaply, and who ;would not think it too much trouble to pend to the market for it. Fantastic I'orms. Not so often as one would expect does some unusual dweller of the deep appear in the trawl to remind men that there are stranger things in the sea than have ever come out of it. How strange some of tho ocean dwellers are readers of the V Arcturus Adventure " can appreciate, ft would seem that the gods, finding their jnventive style in creation somewhat cramped by terrestrial conditions, were in a sportive mood when peopling the ocean, (Kid, giving free reign to their imagination, mad 6 the most fantastic of water gnomes and pixies. New Zealand's biggest joke is the porcupine fish, a perfectly round balloon, with goggle eyes, Hid an all-over arrangement of spikes and fins, finished off for good measure by three tailfins. The weird variety of sea perch popularly known as the " hapuka'B grandfather " is also a fearsome wight.