75 



IV.— DESTRUCTION OF FISH AND FISH SPAWN BY 

 NETTING IN THE BERG RIVER AND AT KNYSNA. 



A. Berg River. 



The question of the alleged destruction of young fish and 

 fish eggs in the Berg Ri^'er has recently become an important 

 one in the fishing industry of that locality, and has called for 

 a good deal of investigation and enquiry on the part of the 

 Administration. The statements of the interested parties have 

 been so varied and contradictory that independent evidence 

 has been necessary. An enquiry by the Magistrates of the 

 districts directly concerned was held, and a good deal of 

 information was obtained from the various witnesses examined. 

 An independent investigation of the alleged facts of the case 

 was also made by the Department, and some other points 

 in dispute cleared up in a report on the subject. The object 

 of the present note is to record in more detail than was possible 

 in this report the facts of the case and the result of this in- 

 vestigation. 



The Berg River is, next to the Orange River, the chief 

 watercourse on the west coast of South Africa. It is charac- 

 terised by the large extent of its tidal part, sea-water having 

 on occasion been found as far as fifteen miles inland. In this 

 part there are extensive flat areas or " plaaten " over which 

 the water extends, and these, with the main channels of the 

 river, form the feeding and (some allege) the breeding grounds 

 for multitudes of salt water fish. The sea-water does not 

 usually extend so far inland, and sometimes fresh water is 

 found at the mouth of the river in heavy floods. Sea- water 

 is, however, usually found four or five miles from the sea. 



This extensive estuarine section of the river has from time 

 immemorial been the fishing ground of a number of fishermen, 

 who capture the fish by seine and set nets. There are, it is 

 stated, at the present time 27 boats working in the river and 

 about 1,000 persons dependent on them for a living. Some 

 of the boats on the river go to sea, especially in the Snoek 

 season, but the 27 boats are not sea-going boats. The fishing 

 in the river all the year round is, according to this evidence, 

 therefore, fairly extensive. 



Naturally enough, some conflict of interests was liable to 

 arise between the river fishermen and the sea fishermen, 

 especially on any indication of the falling-off of the supply 

 from the sea, and in the year 1897 representations were made 

 to Government by those interested in sea fishing that the 

 netting was doing damage to the fishing industry generally, 



[C'\^— '14.] G 



