48 EDIBLE FISHES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Owing to no systematic attempt having been made to obtain reliable 

 evidence on the breeding of even our principal food fishes, — a subject which, 

 affecting as it assuredly does the food supply and through it the material 

 welfare of the masses, should long ago have received euliglitened attention 

 from the Government of the Colony — we are still in the same humiliating 

 position that the Eoyal Commission of twelve years ago were placed when 

 they authorised the printing of the following paragraph : — " The actual mode 

 of the deposition or attachment of the spawn has never been observed, and 

 the same may be said of the date of the first appearance of the young fry, 

 but there can bo little doubt that the deposition takes place in moderately 

 deep water near the land, and that the young are probably hatched before 

 the winter season." 



Of the various special reports furnished to the R-oj'al Commission three 

 only make any attempt to solve the difiiculty, and in these the evidence, if 

 it merits such a title, is contradictory and extremely unsatisfactory; from 

 Twofold Bay ]\Ir. Glover reports: — " Their time of spawning is in November. 

 They spawn out on the sandbank. I think they spawn loose on the top of 

 the sand." Mr. George Mulhall, seur., winting from Broken Bay remarks:— 

 " Snapper are very prolific with roe in this month (March), but when they 

 spawn I am unable to say." And Mr. AVilson, refering to the Newcastle 

 District, says: — "This — i.e.^ the number of very small Snapper present 

 inshore, where the school fish never appear — leads me to think that Snapper 

 spawn on the roughest rocks close inshore, and I doubt not that they ai'e 

 better protected there from their chief enemies, the sharks." In this 

 unsatisfactory state this most importmt subject must of necessity be left at 

 present. 



Tlie Snapper is the premier sporting fish of New South "Wales, for though 

 occasionally captured by deeply sunken nets in Lake Macquarie and else- 

 where, it is essentially a line fish, and pleasure parties and fishing clubs 

 frequently set out from Port Jackson to the various sunken reefs, known as 

 Snapper-grounds, within easy reach of that port, or even charter a steamer 

 for a week, and make more extended excursions north or south; these fishes 

 play most determinedly, and being possessed of great strength no little skill 

 is requisite to safely land a large fish. The following observations from the 

 pen of the late Mr. Edward Hill aptly describe the capture of an old male : — 

 " The tugging, jerking motion of the Snapper is unmistakable, and when 

 he gets his shoulder to the line he goes off with a rapidity that makes the 

 cord whistle again, either through your fingers or over the boat's gunwale ; 

 a steady and continuous strain, no stray line, together with some skill, 

 enables you to safely land him, at which time you can realize that your 

 patience, toil, and anxiety are rewarded with a fish from twenty to twenty five 

 pounds weight, fit to embellish a noble banquet." The same gentleman 

 tells us that the bait for these fishes are starfish, squid, mackerel, yellowtail, 

 mullet, tailors, and a variety of other fishes ; the whole of these at particular 

 time will be readily taken, but when the Snapper appear3 dainty, mackerel 

 and squid may tempt him when all others fail. 



It was long contended, and the opinion is still held by a ^ew, that there were 

 three kinds of Snapper, known popularly as " Hed Bream," " Squire," and 

 " Snapper" ; these, however, have long been proved to be merely stages in 

 the growth of the same species, the Ked Bream being the young fish of 

 under a year's growth, which are extremely numerous in all sheltered 

 localities along the coast during the summer months, and form the chief 

 sport of the juvenile population ; the Squire is the half-grown fish up to two 

 or three years of age, beyond which they have attained to the full dignity of 

 Snapper. 



