17 



habits of the fish had been carried out at the Government 

 Marine Laboratory. On reference to the statistics, no diminu- 

 tion in the supply was observed, and the work at the Marine 

 Station clearly showed that the fish, whose spawn was said to 

 be destroyed, had eggs and larvae, which floated at the surface 

 of the sea. The decision of the Committee was that the 

 allegations were not substantiated, and they recommended 

 the continuation of the exploratory work. 



12 The continued capture of immature sea fish has been 

 suspected to be the possible cause of diminution of the supply 

 in South Africa as in other parts of the world, and about 20 

 years ago the mesh of the nets was regulated, being fixed as a 

 minimum of i|- inches measured diagonally. This regulation 

 had in view chiefly the protection of the Harder (Mullet) 

 caught by means of seine nets. From recent investigation it 

 would appear that this mesh is still too small to allow the 

 escape of the immature fish. The capture of small fish by lines 

 as well as by net is also suspected to be a source of danger to 

 the fish supply. The matter is dealt with more fully in another 

 part of this report {vide p. 75). 



13. Red water is a phenomenon observed not infrequently 

 in South African seas. It consists of masses of red-coloured 

 water sometimes a mile or two in extent, at other times 

 occurring only in small patches. In False Bay it may be seen, 

 usually several times during the summer months, and presents 

 a very remarkable appearance, being frequently of an almost 

 blood-red colour. It consists of multitudes of NoctilucUf 

 normally present in sea water nearly everywhere. At certain 

 times, however, they increase enormously in numbers, when 

 they can be seen to consist of the minute egg-like bodies, which 

 in mass present the conspicuous red colour referred to. Such 

 crowding together of these minute organisms appears to pollute 

 the water, for when examined microscopically most were found 

 to be dead. They are believed by some fishermen to be spawn 

 of fish {vide p. 124), and have been described as " little round 

 things like eggs, and they smell very nasty, like rotten pump- 

 kin." {Vide report of Select Committee on the Fishing Industry 

 1898.) It has been observed that fish seem to avoid the red 

 water, and fishermen do not care to fish in its vicinity. It is 

 said that Mullet caught in it, decay very quickly, becoming 

 quite decomposed if left ungutted overnight. One or two 

 instances are known in which fish and other marine animals 

 have been killed apparently by such polluting of the water. I 

 am indebted to an old resident in Saldanha Bay for some 

 particulars of such an occurrence at that place. He stated 

 that on one occasion, the only one in his experience, about the 



[C.P. 6-'i4.] 



