ANGLERS DISTURBED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 10

ANGLERS DISTURBED

DESTRUCTION OF FISH. DYNAMITING SUSPECTED. AUCKLAND. Jan. 6. Reports that dynamite is being used for the destruction of a school of fish at the deep-sea fishing grounds have alarmed New Zealand and overseas sportsmen who have been visiting the home of mako shark and swordfish at Whangaroa and Bay of Islands. Fears are expressed that with the destruction of the food on which the big game fish feed, swordfish and mako may seek other and more remote feeding grounds. Information concerning the depredations was sought from Mr. J. L. Blackmore, of Auckland, who, with Mr. Otto Sommer, an overseas angler, has returned from a fishing excursion at Whangaroa. 4 * While in the north we heard frequent references to dynamiting, a practice which is resulting in the wholesale slaughter of school fish,” said Mr Blackmore. 4 ‘One one occasion, while fishing off Cavallis, we heard two loud explosions in the distance, which local residents asserted were proof that dynamiters were at work. The practice ; s illegal; it is simply wholesale slaughter, and should be investigated by the Marino Department.” According to residents of Whangaroa and the Bay of Islands, fishermen who resort to this practice to augment their day’s catch, speed in launches through shoals of trevalli, kahawai, and maumau. trailing behind them a float containing plugs of dynamite, which are exploded from the launch by an electric charge from the vessel’s battery. The launch then hastens to the scene of the explosion and the occupants gather in the fish floating on the surface of the water. “The danger of the practice,” said Mr Blackmore, “lies in the fact that for the sake of 40 or 50 fish thus captured when stunned, 1000 are killed and sink to the bottom, where they cannot be recovered. It may be that 3000 fish are slaughtered by a single charge. The feeding grounds for big game fish are thus depleted, and if the practice is continued much longer the big fish will seek other feeding grounds and the sport in the north as we know it will be ruined.” Mr. Blackmore said that while his party obtained good sport, considering the season was only commencing, scarcity of school fish was noticeable compared with the corresponding period in previous years. The schools were smaller in size and the fish appeared to be seared when a launch appeared among them to obtain bait, whereas on previous occasions no notice was taken of a launch under such circumstances. Now the fish dived at its approach, indicating clearly that something more deadly than an occasional trolling line had frightened them. Dynamiting, it was stated, had been carried oa freely during the past winter-