475 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



It is obvious from many passages throughout this Report that there is 

 abundant work for a permanent Fish Commission appointed under the Ontario 

 Government. 



Not only must our knowledge of the geographical distribution, habits, foods 

 and enemies of our food-fishes be extended by a systematic survey of our waters, 

 but a rigid and effective inspection of the fisheries must be introduced, and mea- 

 sures taken to counteract the decline in yield which is otherwise inevitable. 

 The establishment of a Provincial Fish Hatchery is one of the most easily arranged 

 of these measures, but there are problems of greater difficulty confronting the 

 Commission connected, with the control of the fisheries themselves. 



While there is no difference of opinion as to the desirability of enforcing the 

 laws against spearing and other illegal methods of fishing, there is considerable 

 divergence as to the respective merits and demerits of pound-nets and gill-nets. 

 These have been referred to on p. 464, but it is needless to say that the pound-net 

 fishermen exaggerate the faults of the apparatus employed by the gill-net fisher- 

 men and vice versa. Unquestionably the multiplication of pounds has done much 

 harm in interferino- with the inshore migrations of the fish, an altered habit in 

 this regard being noted since pounds were common ; the use of small-meshed pots 

 is also destructive, on account of the habit of immature Whitefish remaining in 

 comparatively shallow water. 



On the other hand drifted or unlifted nets with decaying fish must inevitably 

 prove harmful to the fishing grounds, and while on the whole larger fish are 

 secured by the gill-nets their condition is not so good as those taken from pounds. 



It must be noted that the same size of mesh in a pound-net and a gill-nefc 

 will secure very different sizes of fish, the meshes in the former being taut, in 

 the latter loose, so that escape from the former is much easier than from the latter. 

 An impartial consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of both methods 

 of fishing will probably lead to the conclusion that both methods of fishing may 

 under certain restrictions continue to be prosecuted without danger to the 

 Fisheries. 



Apart from rigidly limiting the number of pounds to be permitted, the 

 leaders should be controlled in length, a considerable gap left between them and 

 the shore, and only a single pot allowed. Above all the mesh of the pot should 

 be such that immature whitefish may be able to escape. The general opinion is 

 that this may be secured by employing netting for the pot, the mesh of which, 

 after the tarring process, stretches to three and a-half inches. Experts announce 

 that the number of whitefish to a barrel has been steadily on the increase of late 

 years. If measures such as the above are adopted an improvement in this respect 

 would inevitably follow. 



Finally a strict inspection of pounds is necessary, especially during the close 

 season, to prevent fish being pounded until after the season has expired. 



Again, regulations with regard to the renewal of the seaming and of the 

 stretching lines of gill-nets would go far to prevent damage done by drifted nets. 

 It is probable that an increase in the size of the mesh of the pound-nets might be 

 advantageously accompanied by the use of a five-inch mesh for whitefish gill-nets, 

 and the imposition of a penalty for possessing or selling nets of illegal size would 

 asssist the objects of the Commission. 



43 (c.) 



