PEARL FISHING IN AUSTRALIA

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5305, 18 January 1947, Page 2

PEARL FISHING IN AUSTRALIA

SCIElmFIC APPfiOACH JAPANESE POACHERS DID ROYALLY IN PAST. . ; A Commonwealth scientific missior is •in/vestig'atiiig Japanese rnethods of pearl fishing in Anstralian waters, and1 in an arbicle written for the Adelaide News, Maurice Ferry describes methods used by the Japanese to despoil the shell tisheries of Australia's northern waters. Value of pearl shell soaring to three times its pre-war (prifees 'has once again made the north-west coa&t oi Australia an E1 Dorado for adventnrers. For many years now the Anstralian pearl fishing has heen a prohleir to the Commonwealth. Pearls valued at more than £10,00,000 were taken from the ocean in less than 20 years. The original • fleet of 500 luggers hased principally at Broome (W.A.) had falleri in the immediate .pre-war years* to 60 Australian-owned craft. Reasons were: — Staggering drop of pearl shell tc nearly a quarter of its value in the depression. Inereasing Japanese control of the industry, brought about by Australia's failure to police its territorial waters adequately. Slowness on the part of the Australian Government and pearl masters to modernise the industry. " A series of disagtrous cyclones which caused heavy loss of life ane boats and made many pearlers 'bankrupt. Now the whole picture has changed During the war years the youn£ pearl beds have matured. "'Price of pearl shell (approximatelj /•£150 a ton in 1939) is now £550. "The Japanese pearling fleet ne longer exists. Broome, Darwin and Thursda: Island are hives of activity as ship wrights hurriedly make the "drifters' ready for the sea.

Secret Rendezvous. Exploratiun and research vessels which the Government proposes' t send, " will greatly assist in the re establishment of the industry. The 'Government can learn maro lessons from the practical way ii which the Japanese Government sup ported' the .poaehing fleet which ope rated to the ruin of Australian pearl ers. They tackled their problems o: scientific lines, with a keen eye t profits. From Dbbo, in the Butch Aru Is lands (oif the south-west coast o New Guinea) the Japanese. systema tically plundered the unpatrolle' , "grounds" off the ^mpty Australia' coast. Mother ships attended to the flee' supplying them with fuel and fooc". ahled them to stay at sea for- exten sive periods. Jap luggers, their 'holds filled witK pearl shell, sailed to a secret rendez vous in some quiet backwater on thAustralian coast where the cargoe were transferred to the mother ships taken to Dobo, thence to Japan. Though it was an offence to ente Australian territorial waters, theimpudently landed on the coast t camp for long periods, attend to thei ships, hunt game and resfc during ir clement weather. Legacy of their visit is the high ii cidence of venereal disease amon ■ aboriginal women, "sold" 'by theo spouses for cheap trade tobacco. Gallant attempts by Captain The Haultain, master of the wooden patrlaunch Larrakia, to check the Jar make a vivid little chapter hithert hidden away in offieial irles. The tiny patrol launch came acros a Jap mother ship "feeding" units c ' the fleet in territorial waters. The engines of the mother shi leapt into life, and the big craf turned and hore down swiftly on th frail launch. A naval man, who had seen actic in W'orld War I, Haultain had had ti" foresight to conceal two Lewis gur in the ibows of -his craft. At their captain's order the cre" leapt to the guns, and opened ur sending sustained hursts into the an proaching Japanese craft. Naval Cadets With Pearlers. Hundreds of rounds of .303 ammt: nition slashed into the Japanese ship tearing extensive gashes . into it wooden hull and superstructure. It came on. The Larrakia held it ground, and the gunners continued t( fire. Suddenly, the Jap ship swung away The patrol hoat swept alongside, air Haultain, brandishing a revolver, an( one of his crew with a Lewis, gun ii his arms, leaped aboard to 'be cor. fronted !by an apologising Japanes. captain. But the Japanese luggers- had made good their chance of escape. Despite this "incident," the Commonwealth Government did not extehd the northern sea patrol. Wlhen the Larrakia's master did apprehend Japanese pearlers in Australian waters, the Japanese owners spared no expense to fight the charges brought against them. Oharges weredismissed. ' At jleast one member of each Jap lugger crew was an Imperial Japanese Nayy cadet. One year's service in 'luggers o'ff the Australian coast, or j in the Philippines, was part of the training of these future iNipp'on officers. The need to employ trained Japanese divers in the past has been a big handicap to local pearlers. ' | . Fr equently the . Jap ' captain of a lugger would "'hi-jack" a ton or so . of shell, selling" -it to a Jap mother ship at a prearranged meeting place at sea. - - , Only on rare occasions did the Japs » present to owners the valuaible pearls they had extracted from the catch. : A Brbomfe 'pearl-master" once ,f re-; marked tiiat half of the porPs "=Chinatown" was living on the proceeds of "shides" (stolen. pearls) from his

fleet. x Fortunes Lost and Won - 'Channels along which a "snide" is passed are so long that about -.9 "middlemen" get a profit. .Stories of fortunes won and Iop1- at Broome in the golden era of pearlin"; are legendry. One is of a pearler who lost his all,' including his lug*gers, in a card game. , • "Well, that's the end of Broome for me," he remarked philos'ophically as he got up to leave. A player remarked, "Talce the door stoppers for a souvenir/' The door-stoppers were two opened pearl shells, each containing a "blister." A "blister" is a protu'berance on the surface of the mother-of-pearl. Underneath it is usually found' "baroque," or partly formed pearls, so badly flowed as to be wortihless, but on rare occasions they contain good pearls. .. The "cleaned out" player took the shells, on his way home handed them to a native to "skin." The native delicately removed the mother-of-pearl ^skins" to reveal two' perfect pearls, valued at £12€0, beneath the "iblisters." The pearler ibought another lugger, and, as a result of lucky hauls soon was a rioh man.