ASTONISHING PHENOMENON

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 987, 30 November 1910, Page 6

ASTONISHING PHENOMENON

SEA FLOOR -FILLING WITH TONS' OF FUNGUS.

(By Telegraph.-Spocial Correspondent.) ' ' Napier, November 29. For some weeks past tho trawling ii dustry has been carried on under considerable difficulties. This undesirable state of affairs has not been due to the ecarcity of fish, but to the presence of sonie undefined substance, the like of which has never been encountered in-' the bay before, llatterc have reached such a pass that it is more than probable that the trawling fleet will have to bt laid up pro tem. ','"•■ Mr. J. J. Niven, director of the Nefl Zealand-Trawling and Fish Supply Compiiny, seen by a reporter this "morning, viewed the trouble in anything but an optimistic light. "The substance," he said,' "is a fungns . growth, . some sort looking like a strand of hair to tho naked eye. The stuff lies near the bottom of tho ocean, holds the nets in suspension, and fills the meshes with; a soft, fine mud, thus rendering trawling an impossibility. The weight of the matter "causes the nets, when drawn to the surface to give way, and whatever fish happen to be enmeshed disappear also. About sis : years ago the' same, difficulty reigned in the bay at' Nelson, and it was two years before the. stuff went tho way whence it caiuc. The trouble is so serious,' thiit'We"''c'6mp;my haslaid-. up its boat, and, if an. improvement is not soon evident, .everybody concerned will have to'follow suit. Yesterday, the stuff ; was observed to : be:, coming:, in by tons to the. inner, harbour with the flood.: Questioned as to whether the' absence of storms was responsible for the accumulation of this marine vegetation, Mr. Niven replied that it might probably be due to that cause. Hβ opined . that, if a strong southerly, came along. tho growth might be sot rid of, but then, a"ain, it would be some time before the bed of tho ocean was hard enough Jot trawling purposes. "The catches of late, ■ continued' Br. Nivea, "won't half pay for the fuel used. One 'boat, after 33 hours of continuous trawling, Bot *8bundles of fish, worth about 28s. Other boats are getting catches in proportion. Fish is plentiful enough, but,, when thetrawl doesn't break, you have to put a rope round the end of it to empty outtho foreign matter, and, at the ,6am*. Hmp von empty out your catca. Mr. N°ven haFforwaraed to the Secretary for Marine the growth* amfhas been advised that an eal and biological examination is beuuj made. --