1899] FISHING AT THE CAPE AND ELSEWHERE 431 



Fishing at the Cape and elsewhere. 



The fishing industry at the Cape of Good Hope is passing through 

 its life-history more rapidly than at home. Here we are well on in 

 the stages of metamorphosis, and at the Cape the larval stage is just 

 coming to an end. To be plain, the method of catching fish by a 

 trawl has caused a rude awakening amongst the seafaring folk who, 

 with the primitive methods of open boat and hand-lines, have been wont 

 to supply the market to their own advantage. As in 1883 in Scot- 

 land, so in 1898 at the Cape, a Select Committee on the fishing 

 industry sits to hear the same old " chestnuts " of destruction by the 

 trawl of the fish-spawn, of fish-food, and of nearly everything else in 

 the sea, but fortunately in the former case scientific knowledge was 

 forthcoming, whereas in the latter the scientific voice seems to lack 

 decisiveness. 



Dr. Gilchrist, the Government Marine Biologist, states in evidence 

 that " we know absolutely nothing about the spawn of the fish." This 

 statement seems to require some explanation, considering that the 

 author of it has been over three years in Cape waters, and that an 

 experimental trawler at an initial outlay of £7000 and an annual 

 expenditure of "between £3000 and £4000 " has been placed at his 

 disposal. From a distance it seems as if it should have been possible 

 by this time to make sure of the leading facts relating to the spawning 

 of nearly all the commonest food-fishes of the Cape. 



Turning our attention to New South Wales we find the fisheries at 

 an equally early stage of metamorphosis. Trawling experiments, as 

 recently in Jamaica, are being conducted with a view to the introduc- 

 tion of this method of fishing into the colony. The experiments, 

 unlike those in the West Indies, were distinctly successful. Mr. Frank 

 Famell is to be congratulated upon an enterprising attempt to show 

 the possibilities in this direction. His report is accompanied by a 

 valuable and concise report upon the fishes which were obtained, drawn 

 up by Mr. E. R. Waite. He describes a new species of Chimaera 

 (C. ogilvyi) and of boar-fish (Histioptuus famelli), besides being enabled 

 to definitely locate such types as the ordinary flying-fish. The six 

 weeks' trawling cruise of H.M.C.S. " Thetis " opens up great possibilities 

 for the Australian fisheries, but if there is a strong contingent of line 

 fishermen on the sea-border of New South Wales Mr. Famell must be 

 prepared for the inevitable consequence ! 



A short report upon the fish - fauna of Long Island has an 

 interesting series of observations upon the attraction of fishes by 

 lantern light. Three hundred and forty-eight species of fishes are now 

 known from the New York district, of which one hundred and sixteen 

 are from the fresh waters, and thirteen are anadromous in habit. 



