WIRELESS AID FOR FISHING

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 41

WIRELESS AID FOR FISHING

LOCATING SHOALS. Wireless is coming to the rescue of British fishermen in quite a new way. At a lime when a remarkable shortage of fish is being reported from the North Sea. some 30 steam trawlers have been fitted with wireless apparatus by the Marconi International Marine Communication Co. (Ltd.), and are setting out once more with an added terror for the fish. As far back as 1911 experiments were made on a French trawler with a view to discovering how far the vessel’s earnings could be increased by the introduction of wireless, and it was proved then—and even more conclusively in subsequent investigations —that huge hauls, which otherwise would most certainly he missed, could be taken in a very short time by vessels which were in constant communication with each other, and with the shore. In 1920 Swedish fishing vessels operating off the Hertasflach took 9528 crans of fish, valued at £12,500, as the result of one wireless message. The fleet was scattered over a wide area, and the catches had been below the normal when one of the trawlers ran into a huge shoal. Communication with the other vessels was established immediately. and within a few hours the whole fleet was participating in the good fortune. CHOOSING A MARKET. A Swedish trawler, the. Skaggeraek, was used as a research vessel to assist the fishing fleet from November 28, 1920, to March 19, 1921, and in that period 220,635 crans, valued at £211,187, were landed. Again, in August, 1921, a number of French vessels were operating off Swansea with very little success. Within four hours’ steaming English and Belgian trawlers were making good catches. A stray Frenchman discovered the successful party, and wirelessed his colleagues, some of whom caught 25 tons of fish in one day. Against these figures the cost of a wireless installation is insignificant, but its value does not lie solely in enabling shoals to be located without delay. The value of constant communication between the trawler owner ashore, who knows the conditions of the markets, and the skipper at sea is obvious. If the supplies at one pert are heavy, the owner can send orders for the catch to be landed at another port; if the catch is urn usually heavy, lie can make arrangements to facilitate unloading. The possibilities are endless. That the installations are not a luxury only for use on very rare occasions is proved by the fact that during six months’ fishing nearly 100,000 words were sent from Newfoundland trawlers. In Fiance a scheme has become operative whereby wireless messages picked up at short stations from fishing vessels are' sent on by telephone to the trawler owners definite arrangements to this end have been made with our own postal authorities, but the whole question is under consideration