220 Ki:W SOUTH WALES. 



the emancipated fry quickly seek the sheltered bays and quiet reaches 

 of our rivers, and there, in such security as may be possible from their 

 numerous enemies, pass this first and perilous period of their sentient 

 existence. In such localities they remain for some eighteen months, 

 during" which period they have ventured out from the shallows and 

 drop up and down with the tide, approaching the shore with the rising 

 flood in search of food. At this age they average about twelve inches 

 in length, and are of marketable size, and the pick of our Mullets for 

 consumption in a fresh state. It is at this stage of growth that they 

 are known to fishermen and dealers as the Hard-gut Mullet, and have 

 received their specific name of dohula. During the spring and summer 

 months shoals of these immature fishes are gradually but continuously 

 working their way down from the nurseries to the sea, where they serve 

 to reinforce the mighty armies of adults now gathering together for 

 their annual pilgrimage. 



In order to avert the impending destruction, or at best lamentable 

 depletion of this valuable species, stringent regulations providing for 

 and insuring its more efficient protection when on or approaching the 

 spawning grounds are already requisite, and will soon become abso- 

 lutely indispensable; and as these breeding places consist of the 

 shallow muddy flats outside and just within the embouchure of our 

 rivers (for the gravid females do not, as many suppose, penetrate to 

 any great distance up the rivers) it is evident that once the shoals 

 have passed inside the various "^ Heads," they should be jealously 

 secured from further molestation until after this, the most important 

 function of their lives, has been safely brought to a conclusion. 



In both the adult and immature stages this species, when freshly 

 caught, is justly held in high estimation for the table, and commands a 

 ready sale at reasonable prices wherever offered ; owing, however, to 

 the lack of suitable establishments for preserving the captured fishes 

 on a scale sufficiently large to make the industry remunerative, many 

 tons weight are annu^ally suffered to decompose, and thus a bountiful 

 supply of cheap and wholesome food is wasted ; and this waste, great 

 as it frequently is, forms but an inconsiderable trifle in comparison 

 with the myriads of unimpregnated ova which are totally lost through 

 the ceaseless and short-sighted persecution to which the breeding fishes 

 are subjected from the moment of their first appearance on the spawn- 

 ing beds until the last wearied and weakened survivor shall have suc- 

 cessfully run the gauntlet of these countless dangers, and escaped for 

 a season to the safer shelter of the ocean depths. 



When to this appalling destruction of ova is supei-added that of the 

 young fry, which the continual sweeping of the foreshores of our 

 harbors and estuaries by small-meshed nets necessitates, it is abun- 

 dantly evident that no kind of fish, which is by its nature compelled to 

 dejDosit its spawn within the shallow waters of the littoral zune can 

 successfully cope for any length of time with the ravages caused by so 

 great, so inexcusable, and so easily avoidable a drain upon its re- 

 sources, so blindly ignorant and wilful a contravention of all natural 

 laws. 



In addition to the Sea Mullet, at least seven other members of the 

 family are known to occur, more or less abundantly, within our limits; 

 by far the most important of these, whether in regard to its numbers, 



