58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



(Special report of Messrs. Wliitclu;i" ami Veuiiiiig on tislilneetiiiig at New Ci»«tle, Ontario.] 



"We proceedtul yesterday to New Castle, Ontario, in compliance with your direc- 

 tions, and Mi;uU' a i»erHoiiiil insiiection of tlie lisli bictdiiif; t'.staltli.shnifiit there under 

 charge of Mr. Wilniot. Tlie premises are Kitu:it<!d on HuUlwin or \\ilni(tt Creek, a small 

 stream traversing tlie township of Clarke, in the county of Durham, and discharging 

 into Lake Ontario, about 40 miles east of Toronto. This creek is well situated for 

 salmon, as it forms a natural inlet of the sheltered bend of the lake between Bend- 

 head and Darlington. 



"Although at the entrance into the lake it passes through a marshy lagoon, the 

 bed of tlie stream farther inland is of a gravelly nature and tlie water is pretty 

 clear, regular, and lively in its tiow. 



"In early times it was famous for salmon, gi'eat numbers of which frequented it 

 every autumn for the purjKtse of spawning. They were so plentiful forty years ago 

 that men killed them with clubs and jtitchforks, women seined them with Hannel 

 petticoats, and settlers bought and paid for farms and built houses from the sale of 

 salmon. Later they were taken by nets and s])ears, over 1,000 being often caught 

 in the course of one night. 



"Concurrently with such annual slaughter manufactories and farming along the 

 banks had obstructed, fouled, and changed the creek from its natural state and made 

 it less capable of aftording shelter and spawning. 



"Tlieir yearly decreasing numbers at length succumbed to the destruction prac- 

 ticed upon them each season from the time of enteilng the creek until nearly the 

 last straggler had been speared, netted, or killed." 



The history of the salmon iisheries of Wilmot Creek, so graphically told by the 

 Canadian conuuissioners, has been repeated in every stream of the State of New York 

 which drains into Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. All were frequented 

 by the salmon, and from each, each season, went out a numerous colony of parr and 

 smolts, which descended the St. Lawrence to the gulf, where they renniined until 

 they had attained size and maturity, when, obeying the impulse of reproduction, they 

 ascended the St. Lawrence and distributed themselves to all the tributaries of lake 

 and river, carrying back to these inland waters the rich harvest of the sea which they 

 had garnered. 



This magnificent fishery has ceased to be. Did it exist to-day, and were the con- 

 ditions which made such a fishery possible prevailing to-day, a hundred streams now 

 barren would afford sa,lnu)n lishing as attractive as the more favored waters of Can- 

 ada, and the catch by net in the lake itself would furnish the motive of a A'aluablo 

 connuercial fishery. 



The cause of the disappearance, practically, of salmon from the streams of the St. 

 Lawrence Basin has been chielly and primarily Ihe erection of obstructions in all of 

 the rivers, which have prevented the salmon from reaching their spawning-grounda, 

 and so natural reproduction has been absolutely inhibited. 



The restoration and maintenance of the whitefish fisheries of Lake Erie, or of the 

 salmon fishery of the lake and rivers, would either of them furnish sufficient motive 

 for liberal expenditures on the part of the Government, if we consider the matter 

 from a purely practical and economic standpoint. It is not only posslbliS, it is 

 entirely practicable;, to restore and nuiintaln these Iisheries, by adeciuate recourse to 

 means and agencies entirely within our control. 



Th<! regeimratiou of the fislicrles must be accomplished through fish-ctiltural work, 

 systematically and ))ei'slstently i»ursucd. Their maintenance nuist be assured by 

 concurrent regulation of tht^ lake fisheries by the I'uited Stiites and Canada and by 

 the enforcement on Ihe jiart of tlie State of New York of such regulations and require- 

 ments as will permit tlu' salmon to ascend to their spawnlng-groumls. In the absence 

 of such regulations and reciuliements it will not be reasonable to expect that the 

 results of fish-cultural work will be permanent or compensating, however extensive 

 such work may be. 



