60 



MARINE AND FISHERIES 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 1902 



The matter is one of great importance, as, on the one hand, the so-called ' sardine' 

 fishermen, who form a considerable body on the Charlotte County shores, derive a large 

 part of their income from the weir returns, and, it may be added, the CJnited States 

 sardine industry centred at Eastportand Lubeck, in the State of Maine, but also carried 

 on at Milibridge, Jonesport and Machiasport, depends largely upon supplies of fish from 

 the Canadian fishermen. As Professor Prince, in his report referred to above, says (pp. 

 xxvi and xxvii.): ' The United States canneries could not carry on their operations for 

 a single day but for the ample supplies of fish obtained from our waters, and the sardine 

 industry, so far as our fishermen are concerned, is confined to the capture of the fresh 

 fish and their disposal to the Maine canneries. At least ninety-five per cent of the 

 so-called United State.-? sardines are caught by our fishermen on Canadian shores, and 

 these are, for the most part, packed in Eastport, Lubeck and other small towns in the 

 State of Maine. ' 



Of such importance is the supply of these small fishes that a large proportion of the 

 population on the Maine coast, as well as the body of Canadian fishermen who pursue 

 their calling amongst the islands of the Bay of Fundy and neighbouring waters, may be 

 said to be largely dependent upon the sardine industry. A failure in the supply of these 

 fishes would mean disaster to those engaged in cleaning, curing and packing, and who 

 have capital invested in the canneries, and would, without doubt, seriously affect the 

 Canadian fishermen who find lucrative employment in the capture of the sardines. That 

 the small fish, known as sardines in these waters, were abundant on the shores of 

 Charlotte County, N.B., was long known to our fishermen, but their value was not 

 appreciated, and the only use to which they were turned was that of conversion into 

 manure for the purpose of fertilizing the land. 



On the other hand a considerable number of N.B. and N.S. fishermen claim that 

 they have suffered injury from this alleged capture of small fish, and as the matter had 

 never been systematically looked into, it was my object to examine as far as possible the 

 catches from certain weirs, and to ascertain what species of fish were really captured for 

 the purposes of the sardine canning industry. 



With this end in view, it was desirable to ascertain, in the first place, the character 

 of the fish used as sardines, and, in the second, the extent to which these and other 

 clupeoid fishes are affected by the operation of the brush weirs. Accordingly samples 

 of the catch were obtained from fishermen in charge of the weirs, at different times 

 during the month of August, and under diflerent conditions. All of the fish examined 

 were taken from weirs in the immediate vicinity of the Canadian Marine Station 

 then located at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Below is given a summary of the results 

 obtained. 



On August 1 an average series of 31 specimens from Malloch's weir, oflf Indian 

 Point showed the following composition : — 



Species. 



Cliipea harcngus, L. (Coiiinion herring) 



Pomolobus pseu'loharf)i(/us, Wilstm (Alewife) 



Microgadus tomcod, Walbaum ? (Tom-cod, Frost-fish) 



The query placed opposite the Tom-cod indicates that in certain important diagnostic 

 features this specimen did not correspond with the description of Microgadus lom-cod in 

 Professor D. S. Jordan's Manual of the Vertebrate Animals of the Northern United 

 States, 5th edition, Chicago, in respect, for example, to the number of rays in the three 



