ite EO PEST ISHES. OF -NEW 
SOUTH WALES. 
INTRODUCTION. 
FROM an economic standpoint, the fishes of New South Wales 
are at present of great importance; but their present import- 
ance is as nothing compared to their vast possibilities; and 
I am confident that I am justified in saying that the future 
will demonstrate that they are to be numbered amongst 
this State’s greatest national assets. Rich in a variety of 
fine edible forms, these waters are no less rich in quantity, 
and many of our species—more particularly those of a pelagic 
or oceanic nature, such as the Mackerels—occur in such 
overwhelming abundance as to make their capture and 
treatment (in a commercial way) on a large scale a com- 
parativeiy simple matter tor people of enterprise, knowledge, 
and resource. In stating this, | am thinking chiefly of fishes 
which are not at present of any importance in the markets 
of New South Wales—fishes which, though present in our 
coastal waters in incalculable numbers, are not usually 
captured unless they make their appearance in the more 
restricted waters of our harbors and estuaries (the latter 
being the principal localities in which fishing for market is 
carried on). But, apart from these, those species which are 
just now of principal value in the fisheries of New South 
Wales, may be captured in quantities immensely greater 
than those at present marketed, all that is needed to bring 
this about being a more improved fashion of handling the 
