H—ls

The season generally was a poor one. It was particularly disappointing in tiie Waikato, Hawke's Bay, and Canterbury districts. The Bay of Plenty, Otago, and Southland, on the other hand, showed a slight improvement on last season. In Otago there was a particularly good run that was not fished at the close of the season. The West Coast again supplied the bulk of the catch. A feature of the season in all districts was the increase in the number of people whitebaiting, resulting in overcrowding on many rivers. The estimated total catch, 7,056 cwt., compares favourably with that of previous seasons. Of this total catch, 3,927 cwt. of whitebait was canned. Quinnat Salmon This season showed a marked improvement over the several preceding seasons, which were very poor. The run commenced on the Waitaki River at the end of January and, moving north, reached the Waimakariri River early in February. The early runs included a greater percentage of males than female fish. This year a total of 983 fish were taken according to licensees' returns, as compared with 324 fish for the same number of fishermen and same methods as were used last year. Canned Fishery Products Only a small quantity of the fishery products are canned in New Zealand, the bulk of the total catch being used fresh or frozen. The fishing products that are canned include oysters, toheroa, paua, mussels, crayfish, kahawai, trevally, herring, pilchard, kingfish, gurnard, marlin, barracouta, mullet, mackerel, eel, whitebait, and whale-meat. The following table sets out approximately the quantities canned: — lb. Shellfish (including crayfish) .. .. .. .. 275,257 Eel .. .. .. .. .. 223,774 Whitebait .. .. .. .. .. .. 438,186 Sea fish generally .. .. .. ' .. .. 626,520 Whale-meat .. .. .. .. .. 100,800 Total .. .. .. .. .. 1,664,537 Fresh-water Fisheries Fresh-water Fisheries Advisory Council.—This Council is fully justifying its establishment. It provides for the discussion between representatives of central and local administration and science of all major questions relating to trout and salmon fisheries. Through it a good team spirit is being fostered and there is, for the first time, real hope of seeing develop a progressive national policy in place of a series of dissociated local policies. Already there is clear evidence of a much more co-operative spirit in fisheries matters between the acclimatization societies themselves and between them and the Department. Trout and Salmon Regulations.—General and local angling regulations and their amendments have increased in quantity over many years and now extend to one hundred and sixty pages or more of printed matter. There is so much confusion between general and local rules, so much reiteration of general regulations in local ones, and somuch variation from district to district that the whole comprises a most untidy body of law, needlessly confusing to local anglers and probably incomprehensible to tourists-

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