18 THE INLAND WATERS FISHERIES. 



catch ill this connection is made in the Murray Eiver, in 

 the vicinity of the horder town of Moama. It may he 

 estimated that during the last eight years this river supplied 

 an average of 90,000 lb. weight of this fish to the Melbourne 

 market. In one of the earlier of these years cod to the enormous 

 weight of 330,000 lb. were captured, but since the appoint- 

 ment of inspectors at points along the river the supply has 

 been kept somewhat in check. Had this not been done the 

 species might by this time have become extinct, for it is 

 beyond reason to suppose that any stream, however prolific, 

 could withstand continually such an enormous drain upon its 

 resources. The supply of this cod to the New South Wales 

 metropolis has not been nearly so abundant. • The Murray 

 River is too remote from Sydney to admit of supplies 

 reaching their destination in good condition under the 

 present arrangements of transit, so that our metropolis 

 has to be dependent principally upon the catches made 

 on the Macquarie and Darling Rivers, in direct railway 

 communication with the seaboard. It would be quite 

 possible to establish a lucrative trade betAveen Lake 

 George and Sydney. The lake teems "with this fish, but so 

 far only two or three fishermen pursue their vocation there, 

 •and their catch being greedily snapped up by the residents 

 of the neighbouring towns, often at really excessive prices, 

 seldom has a chance of reaching Sydney. 



Lake George, 2,129 feet above the sea-level, is a magnifi- 

 cent sheet of water, 22 miles in length by an average width 

 of 7 miles, and has a mean depth of 8 feet. 



In the year 1854 the lake was practically dry, consisting 

 of only a chain of ponds. It received its water in the great 

 flood of 1862, and has maintained itself in more or less 

 volume ever since. At the present time it abounds with 

 cod. The presence of this fish is due to the circumstance 

 of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Terence Aubrey Murray having 

 succeeded in transporting some fry of this fish from the 

 Murruml^idgee River to tlie Wandradene Ponds and Lagoons 

 ©n his estate at Collector, on the northern boundary of the 

 lake. 



During the flood alluded to the water from these ponds 

 overflowed into the lake basin, cari'ying with it large 

 numbers of the fish, which by that time had become very 

 prolific. These fish have continued to breed comparatively 

 undisturbed ever since, and they now exist in large numbers. 



