458 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMTSStOK-. 



(lian fish product in 1870 was $7,573,000; in 1880 it liad increased (o 

 $14,n00,0()0, and by the latest rcporl, tlian for 1883, it had reached 

 $17,500,000. He j)oints out that aitliongh our system of inspection 

 and oversight, and our method of collecting statistics have greatly im- 

 proved, they are still necessarily imperfect, and do not include the 

 enormous catcb which goes on by settlers for their own consumption; 

 and he claims that the $17,500,000 can be considered as repre- 

 senting only the fish pre])ared for ex])ort or sold on the Canadian 

 markets. He estimates the value of fish caught and consumed by 

 the native poj)ulation of Manitoba, the Northwest, and British Co- 

 lumbia at $5,000,000; and of the other provinces of the Dominion 

 at $14,000,000, making in all the sum of $.'50,000,000 as the annual 

 value ot the lish exported and used for domestic coissnmption in the 

 Dondnion, The paper then goes on to prove by comparison that "the 

 fisheries of British North America are the most i)roductive of the 

 whole world." In Canada we have 50,000 men regularly emi)loyed in 

 the fivsheries; their labor, as seeu by the last official return, produced 

 fish to the value of $17,500,000, or $350 for each fisherman. Great 

 Britain employs 113,010 men, and their labor, according to the hgures 

 given by H. R. H. the Duke ot Edinburgh, produces GI5.000 tons of 

 fish, representing a value of $35,000,000, or $309 for each fisherman, a 

 diflereuce in favor of the Canadian of $41. In the United States are 

 employed 132,000 fishermen, the catch being valued at $44,500,0:i0, or 

 $337 per man, a difi'erence in favor of the Canadian fishermen of $13. 

 It is ])ointed out that an important part of the $44,500,000 worth of fish 

 taken by the United States fishermen were caught in Canadian waters. 

 "It must also be noted," Mr. Joncas remarks, "that on account of the 

 severity of our climate our fisheries can only be worked about seven 

 months in the year, from the beginning of Ai)ril to the end of October, 

 so that the Canadian fisherman earns in seven months $41 more than 

 the English fisherman, and $13 more than the fisherman of the United 

 States, who work from January to December.". 



The conclusion of the writer is that the Canadian fisheries have not 

 yet reached 25 per cent, of their possible development, a fact due in 

 some part to the inferior equipment heretofore emjdoyed in the fisheries 

 as compared with that employed in United States and British fisheries. 

 In this respect, however, improvement is taking place. "Owing to the 

 encouragement given by our public men during the last years, the 

 building of Canadian fishing craft has ])rogressed rapidly. The swift 

 schooners of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and of the other maritime 

 provinces, can already by their sailing qualities compete fairly with the 

 American fishing vessels, reported to be the best of their class in the 

 world." Reference is made in the paper to the use of the steamers now 

 used in our lakes, in the fisheries, to the sums of money spent by the 

 Government annually in building harbors of refuge and light-houses, 

 and to the bounty of $150,000 aniumlly given to the encouragement of 



