BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 457 



319 TUE CANADIAN FlI^UKRIES. 



By I.. Z. JONCAS. 



[Abstract of a paper, read before the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science at its Montreal meeting, August, 1884.] 



The paper begins with some geueral reference to the importance of 

 the subject, and with a quotation from a report by the Hon. Peter 

 Mitchell, the first minister of marine and fisheries, whose thorough 

 knowledge of every branch of that department, and whose zeal and 

 ability in the application of that knowledge to the performance of his 

 duty as minister, made it one of the most important under the Govern- 

 ment. The writer then proceeds to deal with the extent of Canada and 

 of its fisheries: "Bounded by three oceans, on the north by the Arctic, 

 on the east by the Atlantic, and on the west by the Pacific Oceans, it 

 has over 5,500 miles of maritime coast, washed by waters abounding 

 in the most valuable fish of all kinds. Of its numerous inland seas 

 we may mention the Hudson Bay, the Strait — which would be better 

 named a sea — of Davis, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the Atlantic 

 Ocean, the Polar Sea, and Baffin's Bay on the Arctic Ocean. We 

 might also mention the Straits of Belleisle, of Canso, and Northum- 

 berland, and the Bay of Chaleurs, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the 

 Bay of Fundy between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the Gulf 

 of Georgia between Vancouver and the mainland of British Columbia. 

 In addition to which are the Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Outario, 

 the largest of many others, great inland seas, the area of which is equal 

 to 27,000 square miles." Mr. Joncas points out that, excluding the 

 great inland seas of the Northwest Territory and the sea-coast of British 

 Columbia, whose fishery resources have not yet been fully developed, 

 the older Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 

 and Prince Edward Island, have 2,500 miles of sea-coast and inland 

 seas, besides smaller lakes and rivers abounding in fish of great com- 

 mercial value. "Whether, therefore, we regard them as being abun- 

 dant and important for domestic use, or in their much larger import as 

 a valuable resource, capable of ever-increasing development and limit- 

 less reproduction, employing an amount of capital reckoned by many 

 millions of dollars, and engaging the labor of hundreds of thousands of 

 persons; encouraging maritime pursuits, fostering commercial marine, 

 promoting foreign trade, keeping always and productiv^elj' in active 

 training an independent spirited class of sea-faring men, the teeming 

 waters of the British-American possessions present to our view a 

 national property richer than any moneyed estimation could express." 



Coming to the question of the value of the fisheries, Mr. Joncas 

 claims that they are the richest and most profitable in the world. 

 According to the reports of the fishery department the value of Cana- 



