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 ho 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 m time ; but fisher¬ 
men as a body, are always poor (perhaps because menceMetobe 
fishermen when they rise above poverty), and a remedy that w 11 
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 their fish, even if coaches were not laid on for the profit of 
the carriage, which they most probably would be. It would ids 
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 j ears, i he land 
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 approaching the full advantage 
of our fishery resources until capital is applied on a large scale to the 
deep-sea fishing; and that will bo 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 fishmg-grouuds 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 sclinappei-fishing at 
Queenscliff, which now yields during the summer about 2o0 tons of 
_i 
