NZ chips in with aid

for Niuean fisheries

From lAN McINTYRF in Nelson, NZ.

A new fishing scheme is under way on Niue Island. Set up as part of the New Zealand Government’s bilateral aid scheme to developing countries it is a practical attempt to raise the catch level of the present local subsistence fishing attempts.

Initiated at the request of the Niue Government’s recently-created Ministry of Fisheries, the scheme has appointed four Niueans as fish eries officers and seconded a New Zealand agriculture and fisheries training officer, Mr Nick Dryden to implement the programme.

Fishing on Niue has traditionally been a very individual affair with the hardy males launching forth from the steep rocky cliffs in their native canoes on to a swell-racked Pacific. Niue has no reefs and no lagoons and only one landing area at Alofi, in the lee of the trade winds.

There is no small boat anchorage and the islanders launch and retrieve their canoes, outboard powered aluminium dinghys and small runabouts directly into the deep water.

Fishing is carried out as close to shore as the swells permit and what is not required of the catch by the fisherman for his own consumption is sold before the boat even leaves the shore.

For years, the Niueans have watched in frustration as foreign fishing vessels troll and trawl close past their island obviously catching quantities of fish that could well reach local markets given a suitable boat. Then, early in 1976, the Ministry of Fisheries was created and added to the portfolio of Minister Frank Lui. In September, Mr Lui together with local engineer Bill Brown came to New Zealand to inspect available vessels that would fit the criteria for Niue; a good all round, multi-purpose fishing boat that could weather the local condi tions, be lifted in and out of the water by shore-mounted derrick and be serviced locally. They settled pn the well-proven 29 ft Karatane and an order was placed for a fibreglass model with George and

Ashton in Dunedin. This vessel was to be completed and delivered in mid-April.

Nick Dryden, an experienced deep-water fisherman and NZMAF training officer and fisheries ad viser, went to Niue in January to dis cuss the scheme, inspect local condi tions and appraise the requirements for gear types and quantities. He returned to New Zealand with four Niuean youths, fisheries officers Robert Rex Jnr and Archie Moana and assistant fisheries officers Halapatu Eliki and Motu Rex. They underwent a six-weeks practical training course in net-making, mending, slinging and net design plus line-work training and line trolling and trips on commercial trawlers, longliners, set-netters and the New Zealand Fisheries Indus tries Board’s experimental purse seiner, Rowallen. While in Nelson, at the Fisheries Research Unit’s base, they made many of the nets and lines they will use on Niue in cluding a long, hand-haul purse seine for experimental night fishing, hopefully for bait fish.

This practical exercise gave tutor Nick Dryden a chance to assess his pupils and for them a taste of things to come. Nick reported that he was most impressed with the speed they picked up the basics and he com plimented them as being as good and better at comprehending techni ques than any of his previous stu dents On Niue, his training programme will be to teach the initial four to become multipurpose fishermen and then withdraw and allow them to teach others. It is hoped to achieve this within 12 to 18 months.

NZ aid is supplying the boat, gear, support and running costs for the in itial 12 months by which time the scheme should have become self supporting. It is envisaged that the type of fishing that could be under taken will include trolling, poling, set-netting (for skipjack tuna), long lining, deep-water lining and in shore gill netting as well as the hand-purse seining for bait fish. As

this is the first organised attempt at catching quantities of fish off Niue, Nick is also taking over a variety of nets and gear to test under local conditions. The emphasis will be on pelagic fishing but all types of fish will be taken including shark. It is hoped to develop a protein sup plement scheme whereby sharks and any waste fish will be prepared for pig food, and experiments will be carried out to find an acceptable method of presentation.

With the new Karatane, a variety of nets and lines made and slung by themselves and under the guidance of an enthusiastic professional the new Niuean fisheries team should produce some interesting and worthwhile additions to their island’s economy and diet.

And Nick Dryden, his wife and weeks-old baby daughter are look ing forward to a seiner pace of liv ing for a couple of years.