H.-—44a.

North Auckland and Whangarei. Tie Wiangarei men use seven to eigit sets of long lines, eaci comprising some two iundred and fifty iooks. Tiere ias been a great decline in tie catcies and in tie number of vessels fisiing. Tie decline is ascribed to tie use of Danisi seines near tie Bay and is dealt witi under " Danisi Seining." Russell. Not many men iere are engaged in long-line fisiing for a living, tie main difficulty being witi regard to marketing. 'Wiangarei is tie only market available. It is a good market, but restricted as to tie quantity it can absorb at one time. Tie long lines only carry two iundred iooks eaci, and two lines are set at a time. A considerable amount of gear is lost, due to tie presence of shark*. Snapper are muci scarcer than tiey used to be. Bait is very iard to obtain in tie winter-time. North of Russell. Tie line-fisiing iere is intermittent, due to tie decline in tie supplies; wiici makes it unprofitable for men to engage in fisiing as a full-time occupation. New Plymouth and Wanganui. Tie New Plymouti fisiermen use long lines and iand-lines. Tie main trouble is tie excessive distance to tie fisiing-grounds, especially in winter. In summer, when tie fisi are more plentiful and may be caugit nearer home, tie market will not stand tie gluts caused by tie quantities landed from part-time boats in fine weather. The launcies fisi from. Kawiia in tie norti to Opunake in tie south. Tie winter trips are usually tiree days in duration ; in tie siort summer season daily trips are made. Snapper is tie principal fisi caugit. Some iapuka are also taken, but tlieir appearance is erratic. A great deal of time is lost, due to tie bad weatier conditions, sometimes only two or three trips being made per month. At Wanganui long lines and hand-lines are also used, but long lines are not favoured, for the reason tiat tie men lose too much gear, due to the suddenness with which the weather breaks. The main fisi is snapper, witi a few iapuka and blue cod. Tie nearest fishing-grounds are about fifteen miles distant, the best grounds being north of Patea. Snapper stocks are keeping up, but the blue cod are now very scarce. The snapper caught here are all of a large size, being about 8 lb. each in weight. A witness stated that a good day's catch is twelve dozen, but owing to weather conditions only about six days' fishing per month is possible. Hand-Lining. Otago and South Canterbury. This method of fishing is used throughout the Otago and South Canterbury districts, but the fisheries have declined to such an extent that it is becoming practically impossible for the men to make a fair living by the use of hand-lines only, and they are used mainly as an auxiliary method of fishing either wiile waiting for tie set gear to be picked up or wien weatier conditions make it inadvisable to use set or dan lines. Canterbury. The fishermen at Akaroa use hand-lines only wien it is too foggy to use tie dan lines. Tie catci on iand-lines is very poor —eaci boat would be fortunate if it could get more tian twelve groper for tie day. As tie fisi only average 10 lb. headed and gutted, this would not return sufficient to pay operating-costs and leave the fishermen a fair return for their labours. At Lyttelton some of the men use hand-lines, fishing from Port Levy, but their returns are poor. Tiey catci groper from October to March, then go on to ling and blue cod. At Kaikoura hand-lines are used only when and where it is impracticable to use dan lines. West Coast. The use of hand-lines 011 the West Coast is confined to some of the part-time fishermen, and the landings from this method of fisiing are negligible. French Pass. Tie most important fisiery iere is tie catching of blue cod. This is all iand-line fisiing, altiougi tie boats also engage in windy-buoy fishing for groper at certain times. The men at French Pass are well awake to the depletion of the grounds which ias occurred, and by means of tieir organization iave taken active steps to conserve tieir fisiery. Tiey were instrumental in iaving tie size-limit for blue cod raised from 12 in. to. 13 in., and prior to tie regulation iad disciplined tiemselves to take only tiose fisi 13 in. or more in lengti. Tie destruction by summer visitors of small fisi in tie Sounds was discussed by tie Committee at a general assemblage of tie fisiermen. Tie men alleged tiat tie ioliday public use suci small iooks that the undersized blue cod caught are killed, by having a gullet torn, whereas if medium sized hooks were used the fisi would not be ; so injured and would live if returned to the water. The French Pass fishermen were emphatic that mollymawks will not capture small blue cod which are returned to the water, nor will tiey be caught by barracouta on the way down, and they also stated tiat tiey found no necessity to iandle tieir fisi in tie rougi manner so common in Foveaux Strait.

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