FISH RESOURCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23008, 8 April 1938, Page 18

FISH RESOURCES

WASTE IN DOMINION EXPERT'S RECOMMENDATIONS BETTER CONSERVATION URGED [by telegraph—own correspondent] CHRISTCHURCH, Thursday A plea for the better use mid conservation of the fish resources of New Zealand was made by Mr. David Graham, formerly of the Marine Fisheries Investigation Station at Portobello,' nerfr Dunedin, in an address to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Mr. Graham claimed that proper investigation was required, that the amount of waste in the fishing industry was appalling, and that several abundant kinds of fish were mistakenly rejected as food. "The first requirement in attempting to improve the utilisation of the marine products of New Zealand is not intensive fishing," said Mr. Graham. "Improvement is in a large measure required on land. Excess Supplies "The present stage of the industry may be compared with the pre-rei'rig-erntion period of sheep production, when carcases not required for local consumption were boiled down for tallow. It is surprising that the present appalling waste lias not stimulated efforts to ensure moro efficient utilisation.

"Waste takes several forms —the rejection of unwanted fish «auglit on the grounds, the ignoring of relatively or absolutely unprofitable species even when they were present in superabundance, the return o£ excess supplies from the market to be dumped back in the sea, and the non-utilisa-tion of fish offal,," continued Mr. Graham. "In January, 1934, approximately eleven tons of edible fish were returned from Dunedin to Port Chalmers to be either dumped into the sea or sold at a ridiculously low price to curers." Need for Control Need for control of groper fishing in the spawning season was emphasised by Mr. Graham. The groper was once an abundant fish, but it was becoming more difficult to catch in any numbers. There was no restrictive legislation, and the need for conservation of such a valuahle resource was as urgent aS it was clear. The present wanton over-exploitation, irrespective of the need of protecting the grounds, and especially the spawning grounds, called for action. At best recovery from the damage done would be slow.

In 1932 and June of 1933 records were kept of the number of ripe female groper on the market in Dunedin. The estimates indicated that 300,000,000,000 eggs were destroyed in this way in one month. Such a loss could scarcely be viewed with equanimity. Neglected Fish

Some fish were wrongly despised by housewives. One was red cod, which was an abundant and valuable food fish. If it was properly prepared, Mr. Graham considered it preferable to blue cod or groper. Yet it was absolutely unsaleable at times and tons of it were dumped into the sea. Another fish that was neglected was the pilchard. He had seen slioal3 of pilchards many acres in extent, yet nothing was done to utilise this fisht Garfish, which were also abundant, were another neglected food fish. The flesh was of excellent flavour, and, if the fish was properly cooked, could be made to come away clean from the fine bones which caused most people to reject it.