FISHING WATERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 268, 4 April 1913, Page 3

FISHING WATERS.

! DIVIDED CONTROL. | A CHANGE TO TAKE PLACE. | _ _ Auckland. April 1. A peculiar division of authority ever the lislung waters of the Dominion exists at present. Fish in the''ea and those in the rivers arc all controlled by the Marine Department. Those in various lakes are under the authority of the Tourist Department. The Hon. H. D. Bell (Minister, for Internal Affairs), told a "Herald" reporter this evening that this state of affairs was shortly to be changed, and that til fi-n in fresh water were to be brought under the control of the Department uf Internal Affairs. The extension of the Marine Department's jurisdiction into rivers, he explained, had its origin in the difficulty experienced in determining where certain rivers stopped and the sea began. For instance, it was a point much to be argued whether an estuary was a river or an arm of the sen. and another whether the tidal part of a stream was the sea or not. and these questions were of importance in view of the amount of fishing done in river mouths. The simplest solution seemed to be to give the Marine Department control of the whole river from mouth to source. The Minister stated that he had no doubt that the administration of fresh-water fishermen by the same Department that controlled the acclimatisation affairs of the Dominion would have a good effect. The whole business would be under an undivided expert control, and while change of administration would not cure the disease which afVectnl trout in Lake Rotorua, for instance, the interests of sportsmen could be thoroughly attended to. The netting of trout would be better regulated, and he had no doubt that better arrangements for transport of fresh fish netted in lakes could bo made. The control of the sea fisheries, the Minister said, would remain as before with the Marine Department.