348 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



raerable in that neighborhood are the lakes and rivers where you will find all kinds 

 of good game fish. Wealthy gentlemen from Europe and America are coining by 

 hundreds every season to enjoy the fly fishing in our lakes and rivers, and thus is 

 established this reciprocity of which we have heard so much lately — we give them 

 amusements and pleasure, and they give us money. 



Protected by judicious laws which are strictly enforced, and assisted by a large 

 force of fishery officers and armed cruisers, there is no danger of our supply of fish 

 being exhausted by overfishing or by the prevalence of injurious practices. To still 

 further aid natural reproduction, fourteen hatcheries are in operation in the several 

 provinces of the Dominion. From these, fully 140,000,000 fry of young fish, chiefly 

 salmon, whitefish, salmon trout, and lobsters, were planted in 1892. 



Canada is one of the rare countries where fish-breeding is carried on under the 

 direct control of the government, and if our hatcheries have not yet produced all the 

 practical results which they were expected to give, they have proved, however, that, 

 carried on judiciously, they can help in a good measure to replenish some of our lakes 

 -and risers where indiscriminate fishing has been indulged in rather extensively. 



The advantage of the fishery intelligence bureaus, inaugurated in Canada on 

 ft modest scale in 1889, became so apparent that there are now 55 reporting stations 

 iistributed all along the Atlantic coast from New Brunswick to the Magdalen Islands, 

 and the coasts of Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The object is to keep mas- 

 ters of fishing vessels advised of the movements of the fish. The compilation of these 

 reports will, in a few years, enable our government to put up charts on which the migra- 

 tions of the different kinds of commercial fish will be easily followed. 



The pursuit of an industry such as that of fishing within 900 miles of the coast is 

 necessarily attended with many dangers and peculiar drawbacks. Exposure of life 

 and property is frequent. Success depends very much on the seasons. Many kinds of 

 fish of erratic habits are eccentric in their movements. Plenty, and scarcity may 

 alternate in places, from which the settlers depending wholly on any fishery have to 

 escape. Within 20 miles of a settlement, on a barren and uninhabited coast, the fish 

 may strike and remain without any possibility of their whereabouts being known ; at 

 other places they may be abundant beyond the capacity of shoremen and vessels to 

 catch them, and yet fisherman not far distant may be unable to procure even a sufficient 

 quantity for their winter's supply. Vessels may return empty in one season from 

 fishing-grounds where previously or afterwards the fish abound. Some may lose the 

 greater and best part of each season in searching after the shoals. Still the waters 

 teem with fish, and sooner or later they approach the shore or frequent the shallows. 



The fishery intelligence bureaus have in some measure provided against these 

 vicissitudes. They have proved of material assistance to the fishermen, and aided 

 considerably in developing the fisheries in our country. Besides affording greater 

 inducement and security to employers of capital and inspiring confidence to those 

 exposed to danger and hardships, they will undoubtedly enable us to increase pro- 

 duction and enlarge our exports. 



Canada was glad of the opportunity offered by the management of the World's 

 Columbian Exposition to show the extent and the richness of its fisheries; and it has 

 made there one of the largest, most complete, and best displays in the Fisheries 

 Building, and in its competition with the rest of the world its exhibit has come out 

 with flying colors, as may be ascertained by the number of awards it has received. 



