MAORI FISH NET

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 186, 15 July 1940, Page 6

MAORI FISH NET

WEST COAST FIND MUSEUM AGQUISI TIOX An ancient Maori fishing net from Patarau, south of Westhaven, has been received by the Dominion Museum from Nelson. The net Avas found recently among rocks on the foreshore. While it was deteriorated considerably from the ravages of time, parts are fairly intact, and permit study of the knotting methods .used in its' construction. The net is of flax, somewhat crudely dressed, with a good deal of the outer covering of the flax still adhering to the fibres. It is of about . half-inch meshj The museum ethnologists regard the net as of particular interest from the laght it sheds upon the natives who inhabited that' parti of the coast. The museum already possesses ah outstanding collection of Maori fishing gear, but the importance of the present find rests on the locality from which it comes. The Maoris were celebrated for. their, fishing nets, 'with which they dvent in for communal fishing on a large scale. Their huge seine nets, used for drawing on sandy beaches, measured up to one thousand yards in length, and took a whole tribe to handle -them. Captain Cook and other early voyagers were profound 3y impressed with the Maori fishing riet. Th.'ey were made of flax, with floats of light wood ab the top, and stone sinkers, often very deftly shap ed, along the bottom. They were immensely strong, the mesh being usually comparatively small by European standards. They wero made under the supervision of experts, after elaborate preliminary rites to ensure that good luck would attend the use of the net when completed. A net was often a communal effort, and it was certainly so i,n its use. It is authentically recorded that in 1885 a giant seine net was constructed at Maketa. Bay of Islands. It measured over a mile long, and was made in sections by some scores pf workers, who finally joined together their segments. .This net was paid o,ut from a raft made by lashing together two big canoes. It was set round an approaching shoal of fish. One thousand Maoris were unable to haul the net, which had to be lifted to let a portion of the catch escape. It Avas eventually hauled in as far as possible at flood tide, so that the ebb tide left it and. its contents high and dry on the gently shelving beach. The catch, -counted by the natives for division, numbered 37,000 fish. Many species AA'cre represented, rang Ing from sharks to flounders."