319 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



By Professor E. H. Rennie, M.A., D.Sc. 



Subject — " The Fisheries oi- Australia." 



In an address which I dehvered before this Society two 

 years ago I referred briefly to Australian fisheries, their pre- 

 servation, and replenishment. Since then considerable atten- 

 tion has been drawn to the question in the S.A. ''Register," 

 and some interest has been aroused ; but the great importance 

 of the subject is yet but imperfectly realised, or, at least, 

 there is still a great deal of apathy on the part of thei public. 

 It ig in the- hope of enlisting your interest and sympathy, and 

 possibly of inducing the Society as a whole to' take an active 

 part in supporting measures now before Parliament, that I 

 venture to deal at some- length with the fisheries question. I 

 <;annot claim originality in regard to the matter included in 

 this address, nor can I pose as an expert. I am well aware, 

 too, that the arguments and suggestions which I am about to 

 lay before you have, for the most part, been already urged 

 in the press, and in a report by Mr. T. Duffield, Chief In- 

 spector of Fisheries in this State ; but, nevertheless, the im- 

 portance of tiie question is, in my opinion, so' great that I 

 ask for your sympathy while I once more bring it under your 

 notice. 



It is a matter of common remark among amatein: fishermen 

 that it is much more difiicult toi secure good fishing than it 

 was 20 years ago. In some places, such as Sydney Harbor, 

 for example, where, say 30 years ago-, good fishing was easily 

 •obtained, it is easy enough to account for the change, the 

 pollution of the water by the refuse, and till quite lately by 

 3> considerable portion of the sewage of the city, being of itself 

 quite sufiicient cause, to say nothing of the constant distur- 

 b)ance due to the large amount of steam trafiic on the water. 

 Rut such local causes can hardly account for the fact that 

 in the ocean outside, schnapper, for instance, are becoming 

 much scarcer, and fishing parties are obliged to gO' much longer 

 distances, north or south to secure any number of fish. The 

 same thing is happening, so far as I can gather, all along the 

 inhabited portions of the Australian coast. It is a matter 

 of common knowledge that, whereas schnapper could easily 

 be obtained in numbers close to Port Victor, and even so close 

 at hand as in the Poorti River, they are now comparatively 



