Hauling the nets
early 1980's - slide photo JM Stewart collection
|
Captain James Cook
back in 1869 aboard HMS Endeavour is said to have named the stretch of Coast
Bay of Plenty ( Maori Name Te Moana a
Toi) This was as he headed across the Bay and up the coast of what Is now known as the Coromandel
Peninsula, he noted abundant food
supplies in the villages. On 1st November 1869 Cook recorded : -
"At 8 saw
between 40 and 50 Canoes in shore. Several of them came off to the Ship, and
being about us some time they ventur’d alongside and sold us some Lobsters,
Muscels, and 2 Conger Eales." ( Wharton Ed, 1893 )
Captain Cook on
arrival at what he later named Mercury Bay ( Maori name Whitianga-o-Kupe) , set
about fishing and found that Maori were adept fishers and traders at this
place. Cook recorded on the 6th November:-
"The Natives brought to the Ship, and
sold to our People, small Cockles, Clams, and Mussels, enough for all
hands." ( Wharton Ed,1893 )
Cook was to
record the attempts by the marines to
trawl with the long boat, to haul the Sean and
copious supplies of fish and shellfish seen at Mercury Bay. This was not
new knowledge for Maori had long found the Bay of Plenty and Coromandel Coasts
plentiful with fish and shellfish. Archaeological diggings in the last forty
decades on Middens scattered along the coastline have confirmed this.
Fishing through the
years of European Settlement years on the Eastern Seaboard Coast of the Coromandel continued to add to the staple diet of
gum diggers, timber fellers and gold miners. Strikers during the 1912 Strike at
Waihi supplemented household food supplies by fishing. During the Depression
years fishing helped food supplies. In 1929 the Auckland Star reporting on the
Relief workers being taken to the new Forestry Trial Planting project near
Whangamata wrote:-
" There is also
a fine ocean beach and the place is a noted fishing centre" ( Auckland
Star 04/11/1929)
Commercial Fishing off Whangamata 1970's - JM Stewart photo collection |
Commercial Fishing
Back in 1871 New Zealanders were already discussing commercial fishing. The Nelson Evening Mail reporting on a Colonial Industries Report wrote :-
" With regard to the establishment of coast fisheries,
the committee recommend that these should be encouraged by means of a bonus,
for a term of seven years, on cured fish, dry and pickled, exported for
consumption abroad, and that suitable sites should be reserved for the purposes
of fisheries and for curing stations. They made special mention also of the
case of Messrs. M'Leod and Perston, of Whangarei, and recommend that they
should have the exclusive right of a block of 500 acres, thirteen miles north
of Whangarei, so long as they use it as a fishing and drying station. They
further recommend that all articles used in coast fisheries should be admitted
free of duty, and that all boats and vessels engaged in the fishing trade be
relieved from harbor, wharf, pilotage, and light dues." ( Nelson Evening Mail 30/10/1871 p4)
No major fish processing plants developed on the Eastern Seaboard of Coromandel.
The advent of roading
on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula, after long years of lobbying , along with a railway to Waihi connecting
with Thames Railway in 1905 and
continuing on to Tauranga in 1828, led to regular calls by steamers fading
away. By the late 1920’s there was a small community of fishermen
living near Whangamata Harbour, forming the nucleus of this small
settlement.
From newspaper accounts
Seine fishing was a hot topic in May 1937 with line and recreational fishermen
attending a meeting of the Waihi Fishing
Association to discuss the detriments of this method of fishing to food stocks.
Not many weeks after the Evening Post reported that the Fisheries
Investigation Committee ( Messrs. J. Thorn, M.P, (chairman), M. Y. Young,
assistant chief inspector of fisheries, and E. Seed, of the Department of
Industries and Commerce) :-
" will be at
Thames from June 24 to June 30, but during that period it also intends to
investigate the position at Mercury Bay and Whangamata. From Thames the
committee will proceed to Auckland. The Wellington sittings will be held last.
The North Island investigation is also expected to take three months." (
Evening Post 11/06/1937)
Fishing late 1970's - slide photo JM Stewart collection |
Seems this was not
the first time as back in 1920 fishermen were expressing concerns over trawling
to an Inquiry regarding Trawling Limits and Fishing Industry ( Mr L. P. Ayson. Chief Inspector of Fisheries,
and Mr A. Petersenson. Chief Inspector of Fisheries)
" Mr Alex
Leslie said he had been fishing here nine or ten years ago and followed it up
till 1914. He knew the Coast from Town Point to Whangamata as well as anyone.
Off Whangamata he had got as many as 60 dozen. The average used to be from 25
to 30 dozen. Since he had been back from the war he had been out a fair number
of times trying the old grounds but had no luck at all. He was now living
retired and was only using his boat for pleasure. All his big catches used to
be between Bowentown and Whangamata. When he was fishing before he noticed that
the fish always took off about August. The weather conditions affected the
fishing. Since he returned he found a big decrease in the fishing. " ( Bay
of Plenty Times 10/08/1920,p3)
Dealing with a shark original slide photo JM Stewart late 1970s |
With
small fishing boats ( mainly wooden hulled vessels) ,various methods of fishing
were carried out over the years but largely inshore net fishing and long
lining. A wharf now in Whangamata Harbour by the 1970's provided a focal point
for loading, unloading, baiting up and to catch up with news on the latest
catch and fishing techniques. Whitianga fish floor was also a destination for
catch. 1963 saw commercial fishing boats
licensing halted. However requirements on fish sizes and fishing methods
continued.
My own memories are of the
MacArthur and Jamieson families in the later 1960's who were living in the then
small settlement of Whangamata. Some of
the vessels came out of the early days of the 1900s such as the MV Tawa - well known charter and fishing
boat, the top sail cutter Clio, built in
1894 which saw a number of Ports and settlements including Tairua during the
early 1940's and Whangamata from late 70's until mid-90's years.
Clio when first based at Whangamata - photo JM Stewart late 1970's |
An attempt at a mussel farm in the Whangamata Harbour in the early 1970’s failed when washed away
in a storm. Today in 2015 OPC at Whitianga is the major mussel processing
factory on the Coromandel Peninsula and " Coromandel Green- lipped mussels
" grown and harvested from Coromandel Harbour are a famous addition to
restaurant menus on the Peninsula ( Recommend Mussel Chowder - yum!)
A Quota management
system was introduced by 1986 with the Government implementation of the
Fisheries Act, helping to regulate boats and catch. Main catches on the Eastern Coast - all to quota were schnapper, terakihi, gurnard and hapuka.
Wooden hulled
vessels gave way to steel hulled and Whangamata as a base for a number of
commercial fishermen gave way to
recreation fishing in the main, with but a few now in 2015 fishing commercially
out of Whangamata.
Commercial Fishing late 1970's - Photo JM Stewart Collection |
A scallop processing
factory at Whangamata in 2015 provides employment for local residents and a
business supplying the mainly domestic market with this shellfish. A what, was
called "black skirt disease", in
1999 threatened the scallop industry for a time and staff and boat
layoffs. Annually a popular Scallop
Festival is held at Whitianga for those who enjoy gastronomical delights and
good music.
Reference Source:
This blog is for my Dad who loved the sea and fishing.
- "Clio” – Stewart Family papers ( Jack and Helen ), photos, letters from builder’s family and others too, newspaper articles, etc.
- Williamson, Beverley M, Whangamata – 100 Years of Change, Goldfields Print Ltd, Paeroa, 1988 p 53, 56 fishing settlement at Whangamata
- Captain Cook's Journal during his first voyage round the world made in H.M. Bark “Endeavour” 1768-71 / with notes and introduction edited by Captain W. J. L. Wharton [1893]http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cook/james/c77j/index.html accessed 05/04/2015
- New Zealand Legislation accessed 09/06/2009 relates to registration of commercial boatsLegislation: Acts Ship Registration Act 1992Public Act 1992 No 89 Date of assent 1 October 1992 http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0089/latest/DLM275027.html search=ts_act_Parole_resel&p=1Z
- Ministry Fisheries NZ accessed 09/06/2009
- REPORT ON COLONIAL INDUSTRIES. Nelson Evening Mail,, 30 October 1871, Page 4
- INQUIRY REGARDING TRAWLING LIMITS AID FISHING INDUSTRY IN BAY OF PLENTY Bay of Plenty Times, 10 August 1920, Page 3
- TE TEKO WRECKED OFF SLIPPER ISLAND. Bay of Plenty Times, 10 August 1920, Page 3
- WORK AT WHANGAMATA. Auckland Star, 4 November 1929, Page 8
- FISHERIES INQUIRY Evening Post, 11 June 1937, Page 15
- SEINE NET FISHING New Zealand Herald, 25 May 1937, Page 5
Interested in finding out more about Captain Cook. Coromandel Heritage Trust The Treasury at Thames has a great collection - make contact for research assistance.