Fish in the Sea.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 506, 4 March 1949, Page 5

Fish in the Sea.

all know that there one as big fish in the sea as were ever caught. The question is, are there bigger fish? There are people, not unduly ro-mantic-certainly not as romantic as most fisherman-who believe that the ocean still has its sensations, and that we have only to go deep enough to find them. In any case the seas round New Zealand are going to get more attention from science than they have had in the past, beginning with a Danish expedition next year which is discussed on Page 10 of this issue. But there are also people who believe that New Zealand has made a pretty poor job of catching the fish with which we are already familiar. In an address the other day to the Pacific Science Congress in Christchurch, Professor Richardson, of Victoria University College, described the general pattern of the fishing industry in New Zealand as "mediaeval." We are afraid to take more fish, he said, because we believe in our ignorance that if we fish vigorously and scientifically we may exhaust the supply altogether. It is certainly -widely believed that New Zealand’s resources in fish are limited; that our long coast-line is a deceiver; and that it is just nonsense to think here in Dogger Bank terms, or dream of the day when trawlers will bring us thousands of tons of edible fish every week. If Professor Richardson is right in saying that we are too timid; those who are always crying out ‘for more fish and cheaper fish will take heart again. He is no doubt right in saying that the seas would be more productive if the fishing industry were modernised and extended, and that in itself would be an encouraging development. But better methods would not increase the size of the narrow ocean ledges on which New Zealand fish feed, or reduce the depth of the water beyond those ledges.