40 



June 2^th. — Large fish. 



June 26th. — Good size fish. 



July. — Mixed lot ; mediums ; male and female. 



August 14th. — 95 per cent, large male fish noted ; female 

 very little berry or roe ; noticed it was diminishing in fish. 



August i^th. — 97 per cent, males, large and small, noticed 

 roe in fish nearly exhausted. 



August 18th to end of month. — All male fish ; large and small. 



September 8th. — All male fish and rather small size. The 

 small males a better red than usual. 



September 26th. — Inspected boats unloading. About 30 

 females with outside berry thrown into sea ; the rest males 



October. — All males ; large size. 



October 26th. — Fish not up to mark unless caught outsid^^ 

 Robben Island. 



(g) In 1910 we made 850 cases ; in 1911, 1,750 cases ; in 1912, 

 2,300 cases ; and 1913, 3,200 cases, there being from 105 

 to no Crawfish in each case. No Crawfish are caught at 

 Saldanha Bay between the middle of May and the end of 

 August owing to rough weather. 



(Ji) Crawfish were a hundred times more plentiful formerly 

 than at the present time. There are now practically no 

 Crawfish in Table Bay. About 25 years ago they were very 

 plentiful. They are now further away. In early days you 

 could catch Crawfish by simply wading into the water near 

 the present explosives jetty, or at the sewage pipes in Table 

 Bay. 



At certain seasons the only bait that can be got for Hottentot 

 fish or Maasbankers is Crawfish in berry. At this time the 

 male Crawfish are sick and cannot be caught, as they will not 

 take the bait. It is necessary to get Maasbankers, as this is 

 used for bait for the larger fish, such as Stockfish. The only 

 place where you can catch Crawfish now (November, 1913) is 

 at the sewer (off Woodstock Beach). At Camps Bay and all 

 round, there are no Crawfish, nor at Robben Island. All 

 these are females in berry. Only five or six hundred Crawfish 

 are used per day by fishermen, while the Italians catch three 

 or four thousand per boat in the season. 



{i) Italian fishermen state that in May over 90 per cent, of 

 fish caught are very small females, and suggest a close season 

 of four or five weeks at this time, say, from 15th May to 15th 

 June. Very few males are caught during that period ; they 

 are believed to have gone into deeper water. The females 

 are full of eggs inside. After June there are not such quantities 

 of females. In July we catch more males and less females. 



