51 



anyone standing on the rocks near Green Point might have 

 seen myriads of large fish passing and repassing with each 

 tide, in and out of the estuary of the Jordan, and Bream of 

 two or three pounds each played in thousands about the 

 shallows above Bridge water, and at New I^orfolk. 



In those early days and for many years afterwards, all the 

 fish required for the Hobart Town market were easily obtained 

 in the neighbourhood, and comparatively few nets were worked, 

 but as the town grew the demand became larger ; the number 

 of nets increased, they were worked night after night without 

 any reference to season, or restrictions as to the sale — every- 

 thing with fins was swept up, and the nearest bays denuded of 

 their fish. 



The nets used were seines of great length, with meshes 

 generally less than an inch square ; they were paid out from 

 the stern of a boat in a large semicircle, and then hauled 

 from both ends on to the shore. The fishing was carried on 

 at night, when the bulk of the fish referred to were feeding in 

 the shoal water, or depositing their spawn — in the latter case 

 much of the spawn must have been totally destroyed, because 

 the weeds upon which it was hung would choke the lower 

 portion of the net, and weeds, spawn, and minute fry would 

 alike be drawn on shore and left to perish. 



As the bays which were fished near town became exhausted, 

 the men began to follow the unfortunate spawning fish further 

 and further up the river. Unprotected by any law, that which 

 ought to have been regarded as a nursery, from which to 

 supply the lower waters periodically with marketable fish, was 

 more and more encroached upon, and as might have been 

 expected, the fish grew scarcer and scarcer and smaller and 

 smaller, till flounders two inches across, and mullet three 

 inches long were to our national disgrace hawked about the 

 streets. Line fishing above the town became a mockery, and 

 those who remember the sport of other days gave it up in utter 

 disgust. 



Angling in the upper waters fared no better, and was par- 

 tially abandoned, while half a dozen net fishermen continued 

 doing their utmost to kill the goose, which, with proper care, 

 ought to have provided them and their descendants with golden 

 eggs for all time. 



In the year 1864, it became necessary, in order to ensure 

 the safety of the few dozen of salmon smolts then descending 

 the Derwent, to put some restraint upon the excessive netting 

 in the river, and the Salmon Commissioners availed themselves 

 of the power given them under the Salmon Act, and recom- 

 mended the suppression of all netting above the town. At 

 the time, one or two men made a faint show of resistance to 



