DEEP-SEA HARVEST

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21555, 18 January 1940, Page 5

DEEP-SEA HARVEST

Big Catches At Moeraki Groper Running Freely Not for some seasons past has there been such a plentiful run of groper and blue cod as has been the case at Moeraki during the past few weeks, and the fishermen from that pretty little port are gathering the harvest that has long been their due. Deep-sea fishing is an occupation that not everyone can take kindly to. for it is a job of long hours and arduous work that more often than not meets with but a meagre reward. Thus, when the fish are running as freely as they are at present, it is fishermen’s harvest, and (he boats are away early, and early heme. Daylight sees most of ths fishermen well afloat, and away to their favourite "patches,” there to remain until the I catch justifies calling it a day. For | the last few weeks, the majority of I them have been home by 1 o’clock or I a little later with anything up to 600 pounds of fish, the catch depending, I of course, on the length of time the | fisherman is out. and whether he strikes a patch where the fish are feeding. Sometimes .it will be blue cod that are coming up. while in another place nothing but groper will be caught, but. the main thing is that it is all marketable. A Satisfactory Market There was a time when the markets were the bane of the Moeraki fisherman’s life. He had to contend with fluctuating prices, and often the possibility of not getting a market at all. and not infrequently the prices he received after charges had been paid, hardly covered the cost of his petrol and oil. Since the advent of a commercial company which takes all the fish caught at a fiat rate of payment the year round, ail this has been changed. The company, by the terms of its licence, must allow the local fishmongers sufficient fish for their requirements, and it is then at liberty I to export the surplus. To this end. it 'has taken ever the freezer at Port ■ Chalmers for storage purposes, so that , all fish caught and cased can be des--1 patched from the port the same day. Disposal nf Ihe Catch As soon as the boats come in at i Moeraki. the fish is taken to the comi pany’s depot, where it is weighed and i packed, a careful record being kept of ' each supplier's catch. A plentiful ' supply of running salt water keeps • everything clean and fresh. A con--1 tract van conveys the cases to Hill- ; grove in time to catch the evening I train, and by th? early hours of the following morning the consignment ' has reached its destination.