Deviously exporting Southland’s tuna
Locks are used to a small extent on Southland waterways to control the tidal movement of water. The best-known of these is the lock on Titiroa Stream close to the main road.
It prevents the flooding of lowlying land upstream and probably helps concentrate the whitebait which are a seasonal attraction to the stream there.
Tricky labelling
Southland’s first canned eels were processed at Bluff in February, 1946.
They were exported deviously but not illegally as ‘‘Southland Tuna’’ – tuna being the Ma¯ori word for eel.
Eels were an important food source for Ma¯ori, taken by hooks, eel-bobs, spears and nets and dried or eaten roasted.
Waituna Lagoon means ‘‘eel waters’’.
Formerly abundant, eels are declining in many places despite a quota system and regulations, that include not taking large migrating female eels.
80 tonnes were taken from Otago and Southland sources in the last year.
Factors such as water quality, habitat loss and hydro schemes are threats to the population of long-finned eels which are classified as being in ‘‘gradual decline’’.
Eels and shags were killed in huge numbers by the acclimatisation societies to protect the new trout fishery.
The slaughter was proudly justified by the term ‘‘useless’’, which was often applied to native species when compared with the fish, birds and mammals introduced for sport.
D’oh!
In June, 1934, the decision to go ahead with the Homer Tunnel was made by cabinet.
The newspaper commented, ‘‘It is difficult to consider why a project so important has been kept at a slow jog-trot when thousands of men are in want of employment.
‘‘Now it is to be completed in three years instead of six.
‘‘The sooner the road is through to the sound, the sooner it will earn profit for the Dominion.
‘‘We note that the Homer Saddle and not the Gertrude Saddle is to be tunnelled. Was the decision based on economy or suitability?
‘‘If it on economy, why such a petty consideration when the road is to be built for all time.
‘‘If a mistake is made now, it cannot be corrected and there is more than a possibility that evidence could be given by those who know the district as they do the palms of their hands, that the scenic wonders along the Homer route are not nearly so impressive as those along the Gulliver Valley.’’
One of the reasons for the tunnel was to enable Australians to travel to Milford Sound, bus up to the tunnel and emerge onto a skifield half an hour after leaving their ship.
Eels were an important food source for Ma¯ori, taken by hooks, eel-bobs, spears and nets and dried or eaten roasted.