BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 213 



71.— FISH-CU1.TURE IIV IVEW ZIiIAIiAND. 



By 1¥ILLIA]^I SEED, 



Secretary of the Marine Department. 



[From the Annual Eeport of the Marino Department.] 



Oysters. — Owiug: to the reckless way in wbicli the rock-oyster 

 fisheries have been worked it has been found necessary, in order to 

 prevent their absohite destructionj to close the beds at Whaugarei, the 

 Hauraki Gulf, and the coast and harbors between Bream Head and a 

 I»oint just north of the Bay of Islands, for a period of three years. It 

 is hoped that by the end of that time the beds will have recovered. It 

 was reported that one of the main causes of the beds having been so 

 r.early destroyed was that the ojsters were frequently stripped from 

 the rocks with spades, which reckless operation cleared away the small 

 with the marketable oysters. In order to i)revent this an order in 

 council has been made providing that no spade or apparatus for taking 

 rock-oysters shall be used of which the edge or blade shall exceed 2 

 inches in width. An order in council was also made under the pro- 

 visions of "The fisheries encouragement act, 1885," prohibiting the 

 exportation of rock-oysters from the colony. The great importance of 

 conserving our oyster-beds, both rock and mud, cannot be more forcibly 

 illustrated than by quoting from the report of the royal commission on 

 the fisheries of Tasmania in 1883, which shows that whereas, in one of 

 the best years, the number of oysters dredged from the i)rincipal native 

 beds amounted to 22,350,000 (the value of which, at the present current 

 prices, would be £93,125 [about $452,588], a sum which, it is stated, is 

 more than the equivalent of the value of the exports of grain, hay, flour, 

 and bran from Tasmania in the three years previous to the date of the 

 report), the yield of the beds has been reduced by over fishing to not more 

 than 100,000 i)er annum. The knowledge of this should be sufficient to in- 

 duce the Government here so to regulate the taking of oysters as to 

 prevent the productiveness of our beds from being arrested or destroyed 

 from the same cause. The quantity of oysters exported from New 

 Zealand, chiefly to Sydney and Melbourne, during the year ended the 

 31st of December last, amounted to 1,057,700 dozen rock-oysters, valued 

 at £3,333 [$1G,198], and 170,455 dozen mud-oysters, valued at £2,190 

 [$10,073]. 



Salt-water fish. — The Department is at present collecting infor- 

 mation on the habits, spawning season, &c., of the edible fish inhabiting 

 New Zealand waters, with a view of adopting and enforcing a close 

 season for some of the flsh. I trust to be able by next year to report 

 more fully hereon. A trawl has been ordered from England for use on 

 f)oard one of the Government steamers, for the purpose of ascertaining 



