HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 157 



den bait was preferred to any other kind by the provincial fishermen. 

 I am told that a considerable number of the vessels of the New England 

 fleet fishiug in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are accustomed to carry par- 

 tial cargoes of salted menhaden to sell in the Straits of Canso. I have 

 been unable to obtain any satisfactory statistics of this exporting trade. 

 This is doubtless due to the fact that every mackerel vessel carries 

 twenty barrels or more of salt slivered fish, and there being no law re- 

 quiring their entry in the custom-house or for reporting salesr after the 

 return of the vessel, no one has the data upon which to found an esti- 

 mate. More than 5,000 barrels of slivered menhaden, worth more than 

 830,000, were probably carried to Dominion waters during the past sea- 

 son. Many vessels doubtless expended all the bait which they carried ; 

 many others sold their surplusage to the provincial mackerelmen. I 

 should hardly venture to estimate the amount of these sales at more 

 than $8,000 or $10,000, and very possibly they are even less extensive. 



The claim of the EngJlsli Government. 



219. The subject of the alleged trade in menhaden bait was referred 

 to frequently in the course of the proceedings of the Halifax Commis- 

 sion of 1877. The subject was first introduced by the English counsel 

 in the " Case of Her Majesty's Government," * as follows : 



"The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance 

 may, perhaps, be attached by the United States to the supposed advan- 

 tages derived in this respect by British subjects. It might appear at 

 first sight that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of the Eastern 

 States to procure bait for mackerel-fishing was of practical use. Men- 

 haden are said to be found only in the United States waters, and are used 

 extensively in the mackerel-fishing, which is often successfully pursued 

 with this description of bait, especially by its use for feeding and attract- 

 ing the shoals. It is, however, by no means indispensable ; other fish- 

 baits, plentiful in British waters, are quite as successfully used in this 

 particular kind of fishing business, and very generally in other branches, 

 both of deep-sea and inshore fishing, as, for example, fresh herrings, ale- 

 wives, capelin, sandlaunce, smelts, squids, clams, and other small fishes 

 caught chiefly with seines close in shore. British fishermen can thus find 

 sufficient bait at home, and can purchase from American dealers any 

 quantities they require much cheaper than by making voyages to United 

 States waters in order to catch it for themselves. It is a remarkable 

 fact that for six years past American fishermen have bought from 

 Canadians more herring bait alone than all the menhaden bait imported 

 into Canada during the same period. The menhaden bait itself can also 

 be bred and restored to places in the Bay of Fuudy, on the western 

 coast of Nova Scotia, where it existed up to the time of its local exter- 

 mination." 



* ProceediDgs of the Halifax Commissiou, Appendix A, p. 28. 



