122 EDIBLE EISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



enormous and inexcusable destruction of fry, which takes place daily 

 without let or hindrance along our foreshores, would by the advent of 

 some such system be reduced to a minimum. 



The young fish having been introduced into the enclosed waters, and being 

 undisturbed by the presence of such enemies as Sharks, Kingfishes, &c., and 

 the depredations of rapacious birds, such as Cormorants, Herons, and Grulls, 

 being easily kept in check, would gain so rapidly in size as to enable them 

 quickly to defy the attacks of less conspicuous, but no less insidious enemies, 

 such as starfishes, Sea-Anemonies, and the like, which also could be greatly 

 reduced in numbers by the application of suitable remedies. 



By means of proper appliances also many inland towns, where a meal of 

 fresh fish is now a rarity or even unknown, could be supplied weekly ; but 

 apart from this it would be well worth trying as an experiment whether the 

 Sea Mullet could be introduced into ponds, lagunes, and tanks in the trans- 

 montane districts of the Colony, and there acclimatised ; aad whether the 

 ova would germinate there and the fry grow to maturity; under such con- 

 ditions it is hardly to be expected that the fish would grow to so large a size 

 as it does in its normal state, but if it is possible to breed them in such 

 places, and of its practicability there can be but little doubt, we have here, 

 neglected at our very doors, a fish far surpassing in excellence the European 

 Perch, Carp, and Tench — -all of which have been introduced at great expense, 

 and with no practical results so far as a fish food supply to the liiverine 

 Districts is concerned — and which with its other natural advantages, would 

 not interfere in any way with our native fauna. 



The question of the acclimatization of the vSea Mullet to purely fresh 

 water is not one which should be productive of any great diflficulty, for since, 

 as has been shown above, the fry instinctively make their way upwards from 

 the spawning beds to the utmost limit of the tide or even beyond it, it would 

 be only necessary to establish a suitable number of farms above the furthest 

 influence of the tides, and allowing the young fishes to grow to maturity and 

 breed therein, to secure eventually from the progeny of such parents a hardy 

 race suitable for introduction into our transmontane waters. 



Another advantage to be gained by the establishment of such a system, 

 combined with the passage of more stringent regulations, enforced by 

 exemplary punishments, for the more thorough conservation of the breeding 

 grounds and the approaches leading thereto, would be found in its tendency 

 to check in a great degree the grave deterioration which is taking place in 

 the size and quality of the spawning fishes ; this deterioration is very noticeable 

 and has been during the last ten years as rapid as it is lamentable ; for 

 instance, five or six years ago the average weight of school fish was quite four 

 pounds and much larger ones were daily procurable during the season ; the 

 fishes at that time taken at any haul of the seine were of the same general 

 size, and the intestines were imbedded in a dense layer of pure fat : now 

 similar school fish do not average three pounds, and a five pounds example 

 is quite exceptional ; the small fishes, of a pound weight or even less, are 

 indiscriminately mingled with the larger, and the necessary reserve of 

 strength, requisite for undergoing the weakening process of spawning, as 

 gauged by the presence of the internal fat, is almost absolutely wanting. 



There can be no reasonable doubt as to the causes which tend to -produce 

 this unhappy state of affairs ; overfishing night after night the same grounds 

 in the vicinity of the spawning beds, and the disturbance of and want of 

 adequate protection to the fishes when engaged in depositing their ova, are 

 the plain causes of the ruinous decadence of this valuable fishery ; if a 



