H,— 44a,

boats is groper (hapuka). Each of the fishermen examined admitted that the groper-supplies are going down in quantity and also to some extent in the size of the fish caught. The landings per annum may not be declining, but the boats are bigger and the amount of fishing-gear is greater and more deadly in its operation, which explains why catches are being maintained although stocks are depleted. The stocks are so far down that the men maintain that if they had to go back to straight-out hand-lining they could not make a reasonable living. It was admitted that if a man fishing to-day had to use a lot of dan-line gear to catch a quantity of fish equal to that which he could have caught on a hand line fifteen years ago, then the stocks must be showing signs of the strain. One competent witness, who has fished for years out of this port, stated : " Ten years ago, if they had been using the gear they are using now, they would have got launch loads of fish " ; while another equally competent fisherman equipped with a good vessel and the best of gear stated that it was slavery now to get fish in payable quantities. All the fishermen were in agreement that some measures would have to be taken if their livelihood was to be safeguarded for, say, the next fifteen years. The quandary they were all in was that, whilst the windy buoy had depleted the fish, its continued use, although this would accelerate the depletion, was necessary for them to make a living. Various suggestions were put forward, one being that windy-buoy fishing should be stopped in May, June, and July (just before the spawning season), when hand-lines only could be used. Another suggestion was to zone the boats fishing from each port. The limitation of gear was also urged. Wellington. With the exception of the two steam trawlers, practically the whole of the full-time fishing-fleet of the Wellington district consists of line boats. All these vessels use the improved dan-line gear known in the Cook Strait as " windy buoy " gear, and are responsible for approximately 27 per cent, of the total fish landed in the district. Groper is by far the most important species represented in the landings made by these boats, being twice as abundant as ling, the next most numerous species, which in turn is over three times more plentiful than hake, the ratios being 61 :28: 8. The rest of the catch consists of small quantities of various species expressed by the figure " 8 " if brought to the same ratio as the others quoted above. From this it will be seen that the effect of the fishing on the supply of groper is the main consideration in Wellington waters. We were fortunate in having the opportunity of examining four of the most experienced men, two of them speaking for large groups of fishermen. These men admitted that the stocks of groper were declining, more particularly on the grounds nearest to Island Bay. The same depletion, however, was to be seen on the more distant grounds which were in frequent use. The average size of the groper caught is going down slowly, and although large fish are still being caught they are not in anything like the proportion to the total as was formerly the case. Although the total landings of the fleet might be the same or even more than it was a few years ago, these witnesses agreed that the real reason for this was that the fishermen are to-day using much more fishiijg-gear per boat and the gear itself is much more efficient. It was definitely stilted that if the men had to go back to handonly method in use in the old days —they could not make a living. So seriously do the more thoughtful fishermen treat this problem of the depletion of the groper grounds within working range of Wellington —i.e., from Cape Palliser to Mana. Island—that they suggest the building of large lining-vessels, 90 ft. in length, fitted with refrigerators, in order that the outlying grounds may be explored and worked profitably. The number of windy buoys used by some of the vessels was stated to be excessive, and some check on this was suggested. The history of these fishing-grounds is rather a sorry tale. First, a new " bank " is discovered, and is intensively worked, the fish being landed in oversupply at glut prices or dumped at sea because the market could not absorb them. The next stage is the depletion of the ground from the state where the fish could be found on it practically all the year round to the point where payable catches can only be made at certain seasons of the year. The third and last stage is that where the catch is no longer profitable, and the boats move off to discover fresh grounds, where this process is repeated. After consideration of the evidence submitted, we feel that some restriction on windy-buoy fishing is warranted, and our recommendations are such as to prevent any further increase in the amount of gear used by the men and to reduce that used by some of the vessels. Keco mmendations. General. 1. That the number of windy buoys or dan lines be restricted to three for each man aboard the vessel. 2. That the number of traces on each windy-buoy line or dan line be fixed at not exceeding six. 3. That the number of hooks on each trace shall not exceed thirty. Cook Strait Area. 4. That if the investigations recommended in regard to trawling prove that Palliser Bay is a nursery ground for groper, windy-buoy and dan-line fishing be prohibited in the same area as is closed to trawling! . 5. That windynhuoy or dan-line fishing be prohibited all over the Cook Strait area during the months of May, June, and July.

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