58 



a-half men for each boat, this will give 790 men. There are thus, 

 it appears, almost at our doors an unlimited supply of fish, plenty 

 of men and boats to catch them, and a large population anxious to 

 purchase ; yet the public cannot be supplied except at enormous 

 prices, while the fishermen often cannot sell their fish at all, and 

 then at prices they can barely exist upon. The reason is, ' that the 

 fishermen have no capital beyond their boats and nets, and are at 

 the mercy of one or two middlemen who keep the trade in their own 

 hands, and fix their own price. If another buyer interferes, they 

 raise the price till he is forced to retire, and then at once lower it to 

 the old scale, tabooing any refractory fisherman, and not buying 

 from him at all, while he is unable to take his fish to Melbourne, 

 and most probably would not find a purchaser if he did. Capital 

 will, no doubt, remedy this to a very great extent in time ; but fisher- 

 men as a body, are always poor (perhaps because men cease to be 

 fishermen when they rise above poverty), and a remedy that will 

 protect them without preventing the introduction of capital, should 

 be at once applied, and render unnecessary such an association as they 

 have formed, with rules as unnecessarily severe as those of the ancient 

 guilds — enough to destroy any industry. The first step is to establish 

 a fish-market, not only with retail stalls, but with licensed salesmen, 

 conducting business in the same way as at Billingsgate, to whom any 

 boat can safely consign its fish ; and there is little doubt that the 

 salesmen would find it their interest to combine with the poorer 

 fishermen in removing the present difficulty, by establishing convey- 

 ances for then- fish, even if coaches were not laid on for the profit of 

 the carriage, which they most probably would be. It would also be 

 a great boon to the fishermen if certain portions of land in suitable 

 localities were marked off as fishery reserves, and fishermen were 

 allowed to purchase, at a fixed price, sufficient for a house, garden, 

 and nets, after occupying it a certain time, say two years. The land 

 would seldom be of much value for any other purpose, and it would 

 benefit the public most materially, by encouraging men with families 

 to establish themselves permanently as fishermen. 



DEEP-SEA FISHIKG. 



The colony will never have anything approaching the full advantage 

 of our fishery resources until capital is applied on a large scale to the 

 deep-sea fishing; and that will be only when the fishing-ground is 

 proved of sufficient extent and there are sufficient capitalists whom 

 the investment would suit. First, the Fishing-grounds.— Besides the 

 Western Port and Port Philip bays, where an ample supply is to be 

 had during the summer months, there are fishing-grounds outside 

 which will yield not only an equally ample supply during the winter 

 months, when fish generally leave the bays for deep water, but supply 

 for an extensive export trade. Besides the schnapper fishing at 

 C^ueenscliff, which now yields during the summer about 250 tons of 



