FOREIGN AND COLONIAL FISHERIES 2^g 



the most active.^ The fishery offices are associated with the follow- 

 ing departments : South Australia, Department of Crown Lands, 

 Miles and Agriculture ; West Australia, Office of the Colonial 

 Secretary; New South Wales, Department of Chief Secietary ; 

 Queensland, Marine Department of the Treasury ; Tasmania, 

 Office of the Chief Secretary ; Victoria, Department of Agriculture. 



New Zealand 



The fisheries of New Zealand^ are at present undeveloped. The 

 inshore waters from lo to 30 fathoms are not less than 30,000 sq. 

 miles, and there are about 25,000 sq. miles between 40 and 50 

 fathoms. Outside these grounds the depths sink rapidly to 300 

 and 400 fathoms. New Zealand has large inland lakes, the area 

 including rivers being approximately 15,000 sq. miles. About 

 1,500 persons are engaged in the fish trade, and of these a thousand 

 are fishermen. The annual value of the fish caught does not exceed 

 £100,000. The imports of fish amoimt to £110,000. Over 300 

 species of teleostean fish have been described in New Zealand, and 

 of these about 35 are regarded as food fish. 



Canada 



The sea fishing grounds' off the Atlantic coast of Canada exceed 

 200,000 sq. miles, the area covered by the Pacific grounds exceeds 

 40,000 sq. miles, and the fresh water area is 220,000 sq. miles, 

 75,000 of it being the Canadian portion of the Great Lakes. Hudson's 

 Bay has been little developed except for whaling, walrus and seal 

 hunting, a vast area with a drainage extent of 370,000 sq. miles. 

 Ten rivers are over 1000 miles long, the longest being the Mackenzie, 

 2500 miles. 



The total catch has increased in value from £3,788,234 in 1892 

 to £7,841,675 in 1917. The total weight of fish captured is not less 

 than 669,000 tons. The number of vessels engaged in 1892 was 

 988, in 1917 it was 1965, while boats and light craft had increased 

 in the same period from 30,513 to 40,105. There are now about 

 12,000 motor boats engaged in the fisheries, half of them in Nova 

 Scotia alone* 



» D. G. stead. Fishes oj Australia (Sydney, 1906) ; A Brief Review of the Fisheries 

 of New South Wales (Sydney, 1910) ; The Edible Fishes of New South Wales (Sydney, 

 1908) ; New Fishes from New South Wales (Sydney, 1908). 



• See a paper by Prof. E. E. Prince in the Fishing Gazette, New York, for 5th 

 August, 1916 ; also the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, Vol. XXXVIII, 

 1905 for a paper on the " Portobello Marine Fish-hatchery and Biological Station," 

 by G. M. Thomson ; and Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. XXXIX. 1906, for " Observations 

 on New Zealand Fishes," by T. Anderton. 



' See Annual Reports, Department of Marine and Fisheries, Canada. 



