H—ls

Gisborne. —An increase of 2,334 cwt. brings the total for this year to 13,260 cwt. This continues the steady increase in the quantity of fish landed at Gisborne, as shown in the table below. Of this year's total, 12,453 cwt. (93-91 per cent.) was caught by motor trawlers :

Napier. —The annual increase in the quantity of fish landed at this port during the last four years has been continued this year. Of the total quantity landed (27,254 cwt.), 25,827 cwt. (94-76 per cent.) was caught by motor-trawlers. Last year the total for this method was 20,947 cwt. The motor-vessel which operated the Danish-seine method last year changed over to trawling at the commencement of fishing this year. Motor line and net vessels landed a total of 1,415 cwt., of which 363 cwt. (355 cwt. blue cod and 8 cwt. hapuku) were landed by a Napier boat as a result of two trips to the Chatham Islands fishing-grounds. The total quantity of fish caught by motor line and net vessels on local grounds this year was 1,052 cwt., which is considerably more than last year's total of 238 cwt. This increase was largely made up of hapuku, which increased from 95 "cwt. last year to 763 cwt. this year for this method of fishing. The annual totals and main species over the last five years are given below: —

Wellington.—This year's total is 4,174 cwt. below that of last year, the two totals being 40,117 cwt. (1948) and 44,291 cwt. (1947). Two steam-trawlers operated and landed a total of 25,764 cwt., compared with 25,544 cwt. for this method last year. Of this year's total for steam-trawlers, the amount of tarakihi was 22,694 cwt. (88-08 per cent.). The total for motor-trawlers (1,132 cwt.) is well below the total for last year of 3,243 cwt. This drop is to be expected because three motor-trawlers operated during 1947, but only two during 1948, and one of these changed to the Auckland registry in August. The total catch for the Island Bay line-fishing fleet is 12,815 cwt. This is 1,896 cwt. below the corresponding figure for 1947. Out of the total of 12,815 cwt. caught by these line boats, 7,749 cwt. was hapuku and 3,013 cwt. ling. The total for net boats is down from 783 cwt. in 1947 to 400 cwt. in 1948. The annual totals landed at Wellington over the past five years are given below :

22

J; 1944. 1945. 1946. 1947. 1948. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Total quantity landed 7,703 8,236 10,052 10,926 13,260 Tarakihi 5,641 6,308 7,547 6,864 8,907 Gurnard 1,244 1,167 1,549 1,444 1,117 Hapuku 289 359 358 775 857

— 1944. 1945. 1946. 1947. 1948. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Total quantity landed 17,865 19,194 22,249 23,525 27,254 Tarakihi 8,966 9,744 11,489 16,201 19,955 •Gurnard 4,621 5,362 5,994 4,180 3,596 Sole 1,710 1,036 2,746 1,297 886 Hapuku .. .. .. , 986 1,443 378 715 1.481

— 1944. 1945. 1946. 1947. 1948. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Cwt. Total quantity landed 14,019 31,554 39,744 44,291 40,117 Tarakihi 999 16,857 21,204 22,455 23,423 Hapuku 6,714 5,403 7,132 8,017 8,075 Ling 2,761 3,208 4,046 5,420 3,124 Hake 705 928 973 1,000 1,355