THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Jdly I, 1865. 
28 THK FISHERIES OF VICTORIA. 
sh limps and oysters. It is very difficult to form even a near approxi- 
mation to the number of boats and men engaged in fishing. There are 
,316 licences issued for tents and huts for fishing, and allowing only one 
boat for each licence, and two and a half men for each boat, this will 
give 790 men. There are thus, it appears, almost at our doors an un- 
limited supply of fish, plenty of men and boats to catch them, 
"and a 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 lie 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 
fishermen, as a body, are always poor (perhaps because men cease to be 
fishermen wdien they rise above poverty), and a remedy that will pro- 
tect 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 busi- 
ness in the same way as at Billingsgate, to wdioni any boat can safely 
consign its fish ; and there is little doubt that the salesmen would com- 
bine with the poorer fishermen in removing the present difficulty, by 
establishing conveyances for their 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 fishing. — The colony will never have anything approach- 
ing 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 Phillip 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 
