98 CORMORANTS AND THE GIPPSLAND LAKES FISHERY 
steamers sailing tlie lakes and rivers, the fishery became a 
commercial proposition. 
It is interesting and essential to record here that even at 
that period, about forty years after the first settlement, 
fishes were exceedingly plentiful, various species of ducks 
and other water birds were said to cloud the sky, and the 
vegetation both in and around the lakes was prolific. There 
is still living at least one man who, at that time, commonly 
shot as many as eighty pairs of ducks per day for the 
Melbourne market. As evidence of the abundance of fishes, 
the following information is taken from the third edition of a 
small publication by John King (Our Guide to the Gippsland 
Lakes and Rivers, 1886) in which he describes a visit to the 
lakes. The author states that on the return journey to Sale 
the steamer carried 10| tons (23,520 lb.) of fishes, the result 
of one morning’s catch. He records that one fisherman in one 
haul obtained 4,0001b., chiefly Gippsland Perch {Percolates 
colonorum (Giinth.)), valued at about £70-£80. Apparently 
Black Bream {Spams australis (Giinth.)) and Gippsland 
Perch were the main species, and another record is given of 
about 6,000 lb. of these two species being taken in one haul. 
Although at that time the natural bar at the mouths of 
most of the rivers had been removed, the main sand bar 
between the sea and lakes was still intact, notwithstanding 
that between 1870-80 considerable sums had been spent in 
efforts to construct a permanent entrance, in order that ships 
of a certain draught might enter the lakes from the sea at 
all times. With the railway available, it is difficult to under- 
stand why this was sought, for at most only small ships of 
very light draught could be accommodated. 
In 1881 Sir John Coode, the well-known harbour engineer, 
submitted a report with plans for the construction of an 
opening at an estimated cost of £85,700. Work according to 
these plans was undertaken and in 1889 the artificial channel 
between sea and lakes, some three or four miles west of the 
natural entrance, was completed. In the following years 
with the extension of the railway beyond Sale, the building 
of good roads, and the marked improvement in transport 
facilities generally, the use of the entrance for transport 
purposes diminished and finally ceased about five years ago. 
It may have been of some little importance to the relatively 
few people in the vicinity of Lakes Entrance (then Cunning- 
hame) in the early years, but now no outside steamer calls. 
The channel, however, is still maintained in good order and 
repair. 
