67 



be secured without involving the destruction of countless 

 numbers of the ova and youno; of these and other fish, has 

 yet to be solved. Certainly, limiting the size of the mesh of 

 the seine might do some good, but it has been shown that 

 the mesh which would allow the escape of the young Mullet, 

 Perch, and Bastard Trumpeter, would still destroy the 

 young of the Flounder. It is also shown that, owing to the 

 mode in which the seine is used, the scraping of the lead- 

 rope, and the enclosed weed render it almost impossible 

 for the young fish to escape when the net is drawn upon the 

 beach, even though the mesh of the seine were considerably 

 enlarged. It seems, therefore, that the only way to remedy 

 the evil is to reserve certain suitable areas in our estuaries as 

 nursery grounds, wherein the use of the seine-net should be 

 absolutely prohibited. The New South Wales Government 

 have been obliged to adopt this course in respect of certain 

 lakes and estuaries, in the interest of the deep-sea market 

 fish, whose wholesale destruction was threatened by the 

 operation of the seine-net. 



II. The '* MiddleGround" Fisheries are generally situated 

 towards the mouth of estuaries, or in certain sheltered bays 

 where the depth of water is from 5 to 6 fathoms. In such 

 localities the graball net and ordinary hook and line are 

 employed principally, in the capture of the following market 

 fish: — 



The Native Salmon Arripis salar. 



The Bastard Trumpeter. . . . Latris Forsteri. 



The Black and Silver Perch Chilodactylusmacropterus» 



The Magpie Perch Chilodactylus gibbosus. 



The Carp Chilodactylus Allportu 



The Flathead Plattjcephalns bassensis. 



The Silver Trevally Caranx Geofrjianus. 



The Snotgall Trevally .... Neptonenius brama. 



The Rock Cod Pseudophycls barbatus. 



The Ling Genypterus blacodes. 



The Sand Mullet Mugil dobula. 



The Conger Eel Conger vulgaris, 



III. The ^^ Outer," or " Open Sea" fishing-grounds, lie 

 principally in the Southern waters of Tasmania, from one to 

 sixteen miles off the coast, in depth of water ranging from 

 20 to 80 fathoms. 



The fishing-boats employed in these grounds are neces- 

 sarily the best of their description, although the most of 

 them are open whale-boats, fitted, as nearly all of our 

 Hobart fishing-boats are, with wells for keeping the fish 

 alive after capture. 



