PORTOBELLO MARINE STATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21645, 16 May 1932, Page 2

PORTOBELLO MARINE STATION

The following statement has been supplied by the Portobeljo Marina Fish Hatchery Board:— The Portobello Marine Investigation Station has now been in existence for 30 years. It was considered that such a station was necessary in New Zealand to gather useful information with regard to the possibility' of developing the export trade in fish and also to endeavour to intorduce valuable fish from the Northern Hemisphere into these waters. Investigation from a purely scientific point of view was also to be carried out, but this was secondary to the main idea of investigation from the economic aspect. The locality where such a station would be most successful was carefully considered. The sponsors of the station were Dunedin men and their leader was Mr G. M. Thomson. Mr Thomson’s canvassing secured in the first few years grants from various _ acclimatisation societies, the Otago Institute, the New Zealand Institute, and the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. The initial expenses were naturally heavy and the grants thus secured were little more than would run the station for one year, but formed a valuable help. The balance of the funds and the continued grant for maintenance until the present time have been supplied by the Government, which naturally expects the station, to work on the lines it sets out. The work to be of economic value to the Government must include such activities as: —Plankton investigation and the relation of the varying quantities of these small forms of life to seasons; temperatures and sea currents, and the effect this quantity variation has on the fishes of economic importance. Research into the life histories of such food fishes as the groper, red cod, greenbone, moki, trevally, etc.; the searching for and recording of new sources of supply of food fish; full investigation of the beds of mud oysters adjacent to Otago Harbour; research into the sea life of the salmon and sea trout. .Investigating the effect the sea birds have on the supply of fish. Many other problems suggest themselves but the above'are of special interest to the Marine Department. Assistance from the fishermen would greatty help in the work and fortunately there is a fine class of fishermen in this harbour. _ . The station has always been maintained at a high standard of efficiency and visitors have always been welcomed’. They have expressed the greatest pleasure at the splendid display of marine life maintained in the aquarium. This service to the public will be continued, but the aim and object, of the station is not that it should be run as a free aquarium for the interest and instruction of the people of Dunedin along with research into the relatively unimportant though intensely interesting small forms of marine life around the coast. Strong pressure has at times been brought on the Government to have the station shifted further north. To keep it in Otago it is necessary to work under the conditions and on the lines set out by the Marine Department and the board is trying to bring the station up to a standard of full efficiency.