APPENDIX A LXIII 



government inspection, in this way improving the quality of the salt 

 fish sent to market. The Dominion Government has recently made 

 an appropriation of $10,000 for the establishment of a fisheries in- 

 telligence bureau with the object of bringing before the fishermen 

 in some concrete way information with reference to the best methods 

 of curing and packing their fish. The Government has also made 

 provision for the encouragement of the trade in fresh fish between the 

 Atlantic and Pacific sea-board and the interior parts of the Dominion 

 by paying a portion of the regular express charges on all shipments 

 of fresh fish from the Atlantic coast to all points in Ontario and Quebec 

 and from the Pacific coast to all points as far east as Winnipeg. 



While owing to certain local causes certain kinds of fish, such 

 as shad, are less abundant than formerly, there seems to be no indica- 

 tion of depletion of our Atlantic fisheries as a whole.. The fact that 

 the catch has not increased more rapidly in recent years is owing large- 

 ly to a restricted market. The annual yield is shown in the accom- 

 panying diagram. 



The fishing industry in British Columbia presents a marked con- 

 trast in many respects to that of our Atlantic coast. Salmon is by 

 far the most important fish taken and it is for the most part canned for 

 shipment. The fish are taken when coming in from the sea to spawn 

 in the rivers and are thus easily secured. The value of the salmon 

 catch in British Columbia has increased enormously in recent years, 

 amounting last year to over $14,000,000. The growth of the industry 

 is shown in the accompanying diagram. 



Year by year the canneries are increasing the number and size 

 of their plants and the number of their boats, while across the 

 mouth of the Fraser river the nets form a veritable barricade. With 

 such intensive fishing it can hardly be expected that the industry 

 will not suffer. Although the run varies greatly in different 

 years, the fish being especially abundant every fourth year, a care- 

 ful study of the subject by Professor McMurrich goes to show 

 that the supply of fish is gradually diminishing and this opinion 

 is shared by most of the canners, although the extension of their 

 plants is contributing all the more rapidly to the extinction of the 

 supply. The question as to what can be done to conserve this 

 most lucrative industry on our Pacific coast is one which 

 presents peculiar difficulties. The salmon coming in from sea to 

 spawn in the Fraser river pass by the coast of the United States on 

 the south side of the Gulf of Georgia and are there taken in enormous 

 numbers by United States fishermen. Up to 1908 the Canadian can- 

 ners on the Fraser river were catching more than the Americans, 

 but now the state of affairs is reversed and the Americans are catching 



