Whakatane’s Fish Industry

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 52, 4 June 1948, Page 5

Whakatane’s Fish Industry

CONFLICTING VIEWS ANENT PROSPECTS During the recent shortage of local fish the Beacon nosed into the possibilities of developing the fishing industry in these waters to overcome it and found many conflicting opinions.

The two main views were (1) that there was a good fishing industry potential in these waters, but that there was at present a shortage of boat-hands which made it impossible for the trawlers- to operate, and, (2) that there were fish in the sea, but that there was no shelter in the Bay for a boat caught out in a storm and, the harbour was not always workable. Opinion that there is scope for a good fishing industry, which is, however, checked by the lack of labour, was backed by figures for the weights of fish returned by the trawler. For a twelvemonths period when the boat ran only 14 times there was a return of 20,1901bs of fish which included schnapper, terekihi and what is called in fishermen’s parlance “roughs”. This seemed to point to the fact that a steadily productive fishing industry could be established in Whakatane waters quite easily. But those who took the view that there is insufficient shelter in the Bay and that the bar and the winds do not always make the harbour workable, looked at the figures that showed the number of times the boats had not gone out and said the figures showed that probably they could not always get out. From this angle it was contended that, if a boat went out and did catch a load of fish and was returning it would not always be able to get in, as had been the case with one man’s boat on some occasions. This enforced stay at sea had made the fish caught not as. fresh as it should have been. This, combined with the inconsistent running of the boats made the business unprofitable, because the returns from wholesale sales were never terribly big.