THE FISH AND FISHERIES OF NEW 

 ZEALAND 



By Professor Edward E. Prince, LL.D., D.Sc, 



Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, Ottawa. 



INTRODUCTION. 



New Zealand is a land of contrasts. Almost every- 

 thing to which an American or European is accustomed 

 is there reversed. Midsummer there is midwinter here. 

 The northern parts are warm, almost tropical, while the 

 cold increases further south, and Stewart Island at the 

 southern extremity of the Dominion, has a climate as 

 cold as Scotland. The most characteristic birds are 

 practically wingless, and do not fly. The typical forest 

 trees do not shed their leaves, and the luxuriant bush 

 and the extensive plains of New Zealand, have never 

 had any four-footed animals living upon them until 

 introduced by the white man. The fisheries are no excep- 

 tion, and while the waters of New Zealand are prolific 

 in fish, the most familiar and important food fish are 

 totally absent, no cod, haddock, herring or true mackerel 

 being found there. 



RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND AND 

 MEDITERRANEAN FISH. 



The latitude being between the 34th and 45th South 

 parallels, the climatic conditions resemble those of Spain, 

 or Portugal, or the southern part of Italy, and the typical 

 fish recall in many ways, those familiar in the Mediter- 

 ranean, and sold in the markets of Naples, Messina, or 

 Lisbon. 



SURVEY OF NEW ZEALAND FISHERIES IN 1914. 



It was my privilege two years ago to make a survey 

 of the fresh-water and sea fisheries of New Zealand, at 

 the request of the Government of that Dominion. My 



