H.—44A.

Committee's visit to this port. It was stated that the closure of the " Dab Patch " during the spawning season, plus the easement of the grounds during the period of the Auckland fishermen's strike in October, 1936, definitely let large quantities of fish, particularly snapper, up on to the Thames flats. This increase in fish in the Firth area helped the set-net men considerably and made it possible to keep their landings up somewhere near normal dimensions. Had this not been so, the Thames fishermen would have experienced a poor year, as the flounder fishery prior to the closure had seriously felt the eflect of seining operations. The result of seining operations on the flounder fishery was stressed by one important witness, who produced figures to show the decline in the production per fishing unit since the introduction of the seine net into the Hauraki Gulf. The following are the figures this witness submitted for periods when there were no restrictions (merchants' limits or quotas) on production. They cover the same groups of fishermen in each case : —

Flounder-production at Thames.

Set-net Boat Returns.

Seine-net Boat Returns.

The effects of the ruthless fishing on the " Dab Patch " in 1932 were : — (1) The price of flounder reduced to a level below the cost of economic production. (2) The reduction in the price of flounder forced down the price of snapper. (3) The excess of fish bought at low prices glutted the market, and new capital was attracted to the industry, with a view to dealing with the supply. No doubt it was thought by some that this could go on for ever, but there was an end to it when the production per fishing unit dropped. All the fishermen examined agreed that the flounder landings had been declining over a period of years, and all asserted that this decline was coincident with the introduction of and increase in fishing by means of the Danish seine. With the exception of one witness, the operator of a Danish seine boat, they all requested that further restrictions be placed on seining operations and that a complete closure of the "Dab Patch" to Danish-seiners should be enforced. Men who had been seining gave examples of the decline of seining returns within the Gulf in the form of the poorer results per "pull." It was admitted by the seine men that if one seiner got on to a patch offish the others came round him, and they all worked till no more fish were left. The statement of one fisherman was particularly apt, and agreed so closely with the views of the Committee after hearing a long and interesting debate on this subject by parties on both sides—the fishermen being present in large numbers—that it is worth quoting verbatim : " The whole trouble with regard to the seine boats is that we are very restricted as to the water that is suitable for them to work in. They have to hang round the shallow water and round the coast, and it is a very effective method of catching fish, but I think that it is too destructive to the reproducing power of the fish." The italicized portion sums up the position as concisely as it is possible to do, and it covers nearly all the major complaints about the effect of Danish-seining on the fish stocks, more especially if it is interpreted as meaning that the seine boat working on inshore and. often nursery grounds can abstract fish faster than nature can replace them. Actually herein lies the danger of allowing unrestricted freedom of operation to this method of fishing. The men requested that the Danish-seining be subject to further

16

Year ended 31st March, '' Flounder produced. lb. 1933 .. .. .. .. .. 38 419,950 1934 .. .. .. .. .. 44 203,343 1935 .. .. .. .. .. 41 267,801 1936 .. .. .. .. .. 36 143,538

Year. Trips. Average Weight of x Jbiounder per 1 rip. lb. 1929 .. .. .. .. .. 177 93-3 1936 .. .. .. .. .. 137 34-8

Year. Flounder produced. 1930 .. .. .. .. .. .. 71,217 1934 .. .. .. .. .. .. 29,174 1935 .. .. .. .. .. .. 28,432