FISH OIL WANTED

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 25, 24 October 1942, Page 8

FISH OIL WANTED

New Zealand Eels May Be Source WAR PROMPTS RESEARCH Investigations are being made to see' if New Zealand fresh-water eels can be used for fish oil, which is necessary to some essential industries and of which there is a shortage. Speaking at a meeting of the North Island. Acclimatization Societies’ Council yesterday, Mr. D. F. Hobbs, of the Fisheries Research Laboratory, said the volume of research had not decreased in the past 12 months but it had been changed. An endeavour had been made to serve the double purpose of assisting the- war effort and of helping acclimatization societies by finding ways of exploiting the eel stocks of the Dominion. The laboratory had tried very hard to find out if they were sufficiently extensive and rich in oil to be worth exploiting. If a market for eels were developed the interests of the societies would be served. Investigations at Lake Ellesmere had shown that 550 to 600 tons of eels could be taken there annually without depleting the number in the lake. Eels taken there had been boiled down and chemists were determining, the oil content of the samples obtained. Mr. Hobbs said less field work had been done recently, but the war had given opportunities for work done previously to be written up, and when the war was over a great deal of material would require to be printed. Recently nothing had been published. Referring to the reduction in the type of research for which 10 per cent, of angling licence fees had been used, Mr. Hobbs said money would be wanted for the printing of work that was being prepared, but the Marine Department had decided that the levy be reduced to 5 per cent. The chairman, Mr. F. E. McKenzie, said it would be a pity if lack of money hampered research, and he was glad to hear that it would be continued as soon as possible. On his motion 'the council decided to send a letter to the Marine Department expressing appreciation of its meeting societies by a reduction in the levy.