“PIRATING” OF LOCAL FISHING IS ALLEGED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 80, 23 December 1949, Page 5

“PIRATING” OF LOCAL FISHING IS ALLEGED

Alleged “pirating” of local fishing grounds by trawlers, believed to be mostly from outside districts, is causing serious amongst sea fishermen, both amateur and professional, in this part of the Bay of Plenty. It .is claimed that some of the best fishing grounds here have been almost denuded to sup-

ply the Auckland markets. Latest complaint comes from Mr '■ W. J. Proffitt, Matata, who has been staying for the last ten days at the Matata beach with the idea of catching himself a few fish, only to see trawlers operating close inshore scoojfihg up their scaly harvest. He and cithers ( with him claim some of these vessels were not half a mile out from the mouth of fhe Taraf wera River. v L He claims, with the backing of many experienced fishermen, that this sort of thing will soon ruin line “.fishing altogether. Actually, the law says that on this section of the coayst no trawler can operate within three miles of the shore. Yet the practice of sneaking in close is ' noticed and commented j- , • upon. ' V Though attempts, have been made s -even quite recently by local honorary Marine Department officers to have something effective done /; to the fishing grounds here, their efforts have failed utterly. Penalties severe enough to discourage, offenders are provided under the Act, but enforcement is not so simple as it might appear at first glance. Though it is easy to esti- - mate the distance of a craft from short, it might be quite another -thing to prove the exact distance j to a Magistrate. And without some 'certainty of being able to produce that proof, it is doubtful if the De- * partment would prosecute. ! However, the matter is one that might -well be brought to the attention of the new Minister of Marine.