INLAND WATEES FISHERIES. 17 



CHAPTER II. 



INLAND WATEES EISHERIES. 



The inland or fresh- water fislieries, as compared with those 

 on the seahoard, are of but small importance. With the 

 exception of the river system embraced in the Murray, 

 Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, and Darling E,ivers, which reach 

 the sea in the colony of South Australia ; Lake George, in 

 the counties of Argyle and Murray, a magnificent sheet 

 of water some 22 miles in length by 8 in breadth ; and the 

 few large rivers such as the Hichmond, the Clarence, 

 the Manning, the Hunter, the Shoalhaven, the Clyde, and 

 others which take their rise in the eastern side of the main 

 range, New South Wales, from a fisheries point of view, 

 may be regarded as practically waterless. It is not, therefore, 

 to be expected that our fresh-water fishes can be numerous 

 outside the influence of waters I have enumerated ; and in the 

 far western country a fish is never seen. The principal fresh- 

 water fish we possess is the Murray Cod, a fish really of the 

 perch i^xmlj {Ollfjorus Macquariensls) being the " Kookoobul" 

 of the Murrumbidgee aboriginals, and the " Pundy " of those 

 on the Lower Murray. There are two species of this genus, 

 which belongs to the family of the perches. It is very 

 voracious devouring everything in the shape of fish or animal 

 w^hich its enormous jaws can compass. It is a most excellent 

 fish for the table, and has been known to reach a weight of 

 120 lb. The young fish are to be found in the billabongs 

 and at the heads of streams, the adult fish lower down. 

 They seem to have their periods of migration, ascending the 

 streams in summer and descending them in winter, but as 

 they thrive well in Lake George where they cannot make 

 their ascent and descent, their propagation and development 

 are evidently not dependent upon facilities of migration. 

 'Quite a considerable trade in this fish has been established 

 with the neighbouring colony and Victoria. The principal 



