Wealth of Gulf Waters

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 544, 22 December 1928, Page 7

Wealth of Gulf Waters

SARDINE FISHING WITH FLOOD LIGHTS New Industry for Auckland HUGE nets woven from material almost as fine as liuman hair are being brought to New Zealand for use in the sardine industry which is to be set on foot shortly in Auckland.

A new organisation—The New Zealand Marine Products’ Syndicate—is about to begin investigations in the Hauraki Gulf, and a European expert is already making preliminary arrangements.

If the anticipations of the syndicate are realised, it is probable that a £IOO,OOO company will be floated in Auckland to build a large cannery and supervise fishing operations. Although the promoters are particularly interested in the possibilities of the areas between Auckland and Whangarei, and on the Coromandel coast, they have in view the coastal waters of both islands of New Zealand where sardines abound in teeming millions. Furthermore, they propose to undertake the canning of other suitable fish. NEGLECTED WEALTH 111 a chapter titled, “Is the Sardine Industry Practicable in New Zealand?” prepared for the New Zealand “Journal of Science and Technology,” -J. Allan Thomson, director of the Dominion Museum, wrote: “A fact that may, perhaps, be emphasised is that the exotic species of sardina resemble the European pilchard. Hitherto, very little use appears to have been made of the pilchards of Soutli Africa, Australia and New Zealand, although they are very abundant.” The Journal adds: “The extracts suggest that there is a vast but neglected source of wealth in the New Zealand pilchard.” The position was investigated in Auckland coastal waters in 1915 by Mr. F. S. Petrie, of Auckland, who

is one of those particularly interested in the new venture. He floated a company of £IO,OOO in a short time, hut on account of the war, the project was dropped. Now it is being taken up on a far larger scale. Captain V. Gilic, a. noted expert, arrived last week to carry out preliminary investigations. “An impression has got abroad that Captain Gilic is an Italian,” Mr. Petrie told a Sun man yesterday. “This is not so. He is a native of Yugoslavia, from the Adriatic Coast.”'

In a short time the syndicate will begin by netting a quantity of the fish, which will be salted and barrelled. Then the company will be formed. Mr. Petrie is satisfied that the Gulf contains the right fish in millions waiting to be caught, and tinned or salted. He is satisfied, too, that the anchovy is also found, and if the quantities are sufficient, these will he turned into sauce. It is highly probable that the company will be primarily a canning concern, buying the fish from private boatmen and supplying them with the special nets. The method of catching sardines has evolved from a study of their habits. While feeding, the shoals are among the weed and grass on the sea floor, but at dawn and sunset they swim to the surface to play. This custom leaves them prey to a, gentle deception. Their nets piled in boats fitted at the prows with powerful floodlights projecting down, the fishermen set out at night. When they reach the grounds, the big nets are set, and the lights are switched on. CAUGHT IN FALSE DAWN Attracted by the glare, and perhaps under the impression that dawn is breaking, the sardines come to the surface in their thousands. They

rise in a great wave which breaks water and sinks again, tracing a wide curve.

But oil their downward course the fish strike the almost invisible net. They are snared in large quantities and drawn swiftly into the boats. The nets now on their way to New Zealand are of special design and are prepared in Trieste. They are particularly long, and from 450 to 700 meshes or 22 to 32 feet in depth. Soon these dainty snares will he laid under powerful lights in the gulf.