56 



With a population of only 120,000 persons, it cannot be 

 ex})ected that the fishing industry in Tasmania can be very 

 exiensive; nevertheless it is estimated that there are about 

 1050 persons directly dependent upon the capture and sale 

 of Fishes. 



Hobart is the chief centre of the industry, its position 

 being particularly favourable in this respect from its near- 

 ness to the principal fishing-grounds. Fully 63 per cent. 

 of the men and boats belong to Hobart ; and the men carry 

 on their business either in the upper or lower watei's of the 

 Derwent, or in the open sea Trumpeter reefs, 40 to 80 

 fathoms, lying between Seymour on the East Coast and 

 Port Davey on the South-West. The marine fishing- 

 grounds may generally be divided into three classes : — 



I. The " Home Grounds," near shore or in the upper 

 shallows of estuaries, where the seine-net is largely used in 

 the capture of — 



The Sole . - , . Awnotrefh rostratus. 

 Tlie Flounder . . RhomhsoJea monopus. 



Garfish Heimrhamphns intermedins. 



Mullet Af/oiio.^foma Foniferi. 



In the Derwent, Tamar, Port Sorell, and George's Bay 

 especially, theie are many fishing-grounds where these fish 

 are to be found in considerable numbers. Unfortunately, 

 the flat fishes of Tasmania, and the Garfish, can only be 

 captured h\ means of the seine-net, which in its operations 

 destroys in myriads the young of all the fishes which tend 

 to seek such shallow ground for food and shelter. Many 

 unprotected localities, such as Ralph's Bay, in the Derwent, 

 where such fish wore once so abundant, have now been 

 rendered almost barren from the indiscriminate and con- 

 tinuous operation of the destructive seine-net. The effect of 

 the seine-net is clearly shown in the Derwent. The upper 

 portion of the river, prior to being closed for the protection 

 of the Salmonidae, was so much thinned out by continuous 

 and destructive seining, that the rod fishermen interested in 

 the capture of mullet, native salmon, ])erch, &c. could no 

 longer find it profitable to fish in this locality. Since this 

 portion was so protected, all kinds of estuary fish have 

 become so abundant, that it is stated that more mullet are 

 caught now in these waters by amateur rod fishermen than 

 were taken formerly by the seine-net. 



The problem of devising some means w^hereby the 

 Flounder, Garfish, and other useful marketable fish, might 



