How To Get Some
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
Value
Out Of Our Japs
RABAUL, April 11.
IN spite of official portentousness, the people of Rabaul are not deeply concerned over the arrest of the Japanese fishing-boat, and all this evidence of the perfidy of our late enemy.
Instead, the people are much more interested in the little ship and its equipment, and method of fishing.
It appears that the Jap technique is to put out miles and miles of lines, suspended on glass floats, and use various ingenious baits on smaller lines carrying hooks, and attached to the floating lines. The crew of over 20 evidently spent all their time just going along the lines. When the ship was arrested, it took 141 hours’ work to haul in all the lines.
There seems nothing wrong with the technique as employed in our waters. This is a new ship, and they say she has not fished any where else; and there were some 20 tons of fish in her refrigerators.
Someone here asked: " Why not forget this business of bringing in a planeload of officials to prosecute the fishermen? Why not punish them, and get some real benefit out of it all, by compelling them to show us how to catch fish in our own waters?”