256 



In comparison with this, the last two pickerel that I saw taken from Clayton 

 Bay — a place as thoroughl}^ fished with hook and line as any on the St. Lawrence 

 river — weighed twenty-five pounds. 



For the information of those present who may not be familiar with the 

 locality, I beg to state that between Clayton N. Y., and Gananoque, Ont., the 

 river is about seven miles wide, but owing to the many intervening islands, 

 the shortest navigable channel is about nine miles. 



Chairman : Would any other gentlemen from the Association like to be 

 heard ? 



Mr. Thompson : Mr. Chairman, I think I may say here what may not have 

 any influence, but at the same time I am here to discuss the protection of fish. 

 The matter has been thoroughly discussed ; the necessity of it, which everybody 

 concedes, and there is no doubt that everything is being done in this State to 

 propagate that could be done. It seems almost in its infancy. The people have 

 come to see the necessity of having food fish, and the necessity of propagating fish 

 for that purpose. That thing is now under way in good shape ; but at the same 

 time that we are spending so much money to propagate, we should attend to the 

 protection of our food fisli after we get them propagated. As it stands now in 

 Canada, with the privilege of netting, they use nets down to a very small mesh, 

 and they are taking the small fish as well as those well grown, and it has the 

 tendency to keep the quantity down. If we could have a limited time, or a limited 

 amount of fish, so that everybody should not have the privilege of going in and 

 netting all the year round, or netting all that they see fit to, our fish might be 

 kept in the waters, but, as it is, they are soon netted out and our waters are de- 

 pleted. We find that true in the river St. Lawrence. Years ago, beibre they 

 commenced netting, you could go out and catch any amount of fish ; any man 

 could be gone an hour or two and catch all the fish he wanted ; now you have to 

 fish all day to get a good mess, literally speaking. That is all due to using nets. 

 What we ask is protection in that direction. We have good laws ; our Bill well 

 provides for that protection. But the Canadian people on the opposite side license 

 there the privilege of netting. It is hard to keep American fish from going into 

 Canadian waters, therefore the whole river is depleted by that measure of netting. 

 If we could persuade our Canadian friends to legislate some law prohibiting nett- 

 ing, I think it would be very beneficial. I am speaking now of the river. When 

 you go up into the lakes it is beyond my knowledge ; but I think that, as Mr. 

 Skinner says, taking it down the river, the Canadian authorities have put their 

 islands on the market and they are trying to get them populated the same as they 

 are on our side, and the only thing to induce people to come there is to enact a law 

 to protect the fish ; this would be to the interest of anybody, both commercial 

 and steamboat men and everybod}' interested in the pleasure business of the river. 

 It has got to be a very important thing. Let what has been said and done so far 

 be carried out, to the end that we may see some good result, and I would only 

 suggest that perhaps a copy of the bill as we have it, should be submitted to the 

 Canadian authorities, and let them look the matter over and see how near they 

 are willing to conform to it, and if there is anything that is in accord with them 

 we will try to get together on those points : if we cannot doit to-day, some future 

 day ; I think it would be beneficial to both sides. 



Mr. K P. Grant : Mr. Chairman, I think the ground has been pretty well 

 covered by the gentlemen who have spoken, but there are two or three points I 

 want to give my opinion on, one is in regard to the State Fish Commissioners, 

 having control and jurisdiction over the state fishing grounds and everything per- 

 taining to them, instead of the general government. I think the gentleman from 



