ABOUT FISH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9643, 19 January 1903, Page 4

ABOUT FISH.

THE FATE OF THE FLOUNDER. "The discovery has been made that the kahawiu m Hawke's Buy waters are feeding on the young soles." This item '(says the N.Z. Times) has been going the rounds of the New Zealand press. It conveys little, information to those unacquainted with a,n interesting feature of deep-sea fishing m the waters surrounding this island. Soles and flounders used to abound m great quantities off the East Coast of the North Island m particular. Years ago the trawlers m Hawke's Bay reaped a rich harvest. Their plentiful yields enabled them to send shipments of fish packed m ice to all the stations between Napier and Wellington, and as far as Wanganui and Taranaki, to say nothing of the markets further south, and shipments made to Sydney. Then came a time when the supply of flat fish fell off considerably. The 'fish trade languished ; people who had invested m tra,wlea\s were glad to sell them, and where formerly many vessels were engaged m the business now only a few remain. Old wiseacres shook their heads when questioned about the decrease m the output. They declared that the breeding grounds m Hawke's Bay had been worked out, and that there were no young fish coming on to take the place of the j enormous hauls that had previously been made. Some owners of trawlers blamed the westerly winds and bad weather, and felt confident that m time the fish would return. But they did not return m anything like the former quantity. Flat fish went up m price, and eigliteenpence the bundle is now asked m Napier for what was once obtainable at ninepence. , This brings us to the kawhai and his big mate the kingfish— the chap that King Edward is so fond of catching, so the newspapers say. Of late great hauls of these fish have been made along the stretch of Hawke's Bay beach from the Western Spit towards the direction ot iPetane. That portion of the bay has teemed with big fish, which, when brought ashore m the nets, were seen to be- swollen out to quite an inordinate size. The I writer remarked to a. weather-beaten old fisherman, who was cleaning about fifty kahawai underneath the Western Spit bridge the other day, "By jove, those fish are tremendously fat. They seem to thrive well m these waters ; what do they feed on ?" J "Yes," he replied— he had been at the game many years— "we get the big fish now when the weather is favomble, but the big fish has the best of it at the nnish. Look here," he added, and he proceeded to open a large -kahawai that bore the appearance of having been stufied, so bulged out was he. Fully J w ]f a dozen small soles and flounders rolled j out on to the beach among the internals |of one fish, and the same number — m some instances perhaps more— was found m almost every kahawai opened up. There was a thirty-five pound kingiish lying close by— 4i monster that would make an amateur angler's mouth water. This fellow also contained numerous soles, large and small, that had not yet gone through the process of digestion. Then the old salt began to moralise "These big fish," he said, "are not so saleable as the soles and flounders. They take well with the Maoris, who eat anything m the fish line from shark to crabs but flat fish are most m demand m the general market. Soles are not so plentiful now m the beiy, because the young fish are eaten up away there outside m the breeding grounds before they get a chance to grow"— and the fifty odd kahawai that lie liad .cleaned seemed to verify his remarks. The beach was literally strewn with young flat fish, . from four to six inches m length, that had been consumed by tlie larger variety. Fishermen further along the beach confirmed this view. That same after noon six or eight nets were hauled m; kahawai and kingfish abounded m them .there were also tiny soles m thousands m the net«, but, strange to say. few large ones. It clearly showed that here m the breeding ground of the finest of flat fish, tin: fcingnsn and kahawai were playine great havoc. If these fish are feeding on the young soles and flounders, what are not the still larger fish doing m the way of spoiling the harvest of the fishermen? Ihe matter is an interesting one for further investigation.