REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXI 



4. — FISHERY RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES WITH CANADA. 



The treaty of Washington, defining the fishery relations between 

 Canada and the United States, terminated July 1, 1S8G, but, by cour- 

 tesy of the British Government, the privileges which it had granted to 

 American fishermen were extended to the 1st of January following. In 

 connection with the correspondence which ensued between the repre- 

 sentatives of the two Governments relative to this subject, the U. S. 

 Fish Commissioner was occasionally called upon for information. In 

 December, 188(3, he made the following report to the honorable Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, in reply to several questions which the latter had 

 presented for his consideration. This report is of special interest as 

 giving in concise form a comprehensive view of the fishery question 

 based upon the evidence in the possession of the Fish Commission. 

 The questions and replies are as follows: 



Question 1. "What do you estimate to have been the value of the products of the 

 British North American fisheries for 1885?" 



The Canadian fisheries in 1885, as shown by tables compiled by the Canadian gov- 

 ernment, furnished occasional or continuous employment to 59,493 persons, with 1,177 

 vessels and 28,47.2 boats. The value of these, together with that of the other appara- 

 tus and capital, including shore property, gives a total of $0,697,459 employed in the 

 fisheries industries, with a total value of products amounting to $17,722,973.18. The 

 tables from which the summary is obtained have been compiled from the annual re- 

 port of the Deparment of Fisheries, Dominion of Canada, for the year 1885. 



In using the figures, it should be remembered that the tables include not only the 

 commercial fisheries, but also the persons, apparatus, and capital employed in fishing 

 for local supply, and probably a large number who iish only to furnish food for their 

 own families. This class, owing to the lack of manufacturing interests and the char- 

 acter of the soil, composes in many localities a large part of the population. 

 Question 2. "What are the descriptions of the fish — in consequence of the present 

 habits of the fish, the present methods of catching, drying, curing, and preserv- 

 ing — American fishermen desire to take either in the jurisdictional waters of British 

 North America, or in the open sea or open bays near the British colonial posses- 

 sions?" 



Prior to, and during the first half of the present century, many of the New England 

 vessels engaged in the offshore cod fisheries, being of small size, found it desirable 

 to fish iu the vicinity of the shore, where they could make a harbor in case of severe 

 storms. Owing to their small tonnage, they found it difficult to carry sufficient quan- 

 tities of codfish to make a trip to the more distant fishing grounds profitable, and 

 many of them found it desirable to land and dry their fish upon the shores, thus ena- 

 bling them to bring home a much larger quantity as a result of the voyage. At that 

 time the majority of the fish were exported to Spain and the West Indies, and the 

 methods which our fishermen found it necessary to adopt in drying their fish on the 

 provincial shores made them especially adapted for these markets. 



Since 1850 the small vessels engaged in the offshore fisheries have been gradually 

 replaced by larger ones, and thus the privilege of fishing for cod in the vicinity of the 

 shore has become less important, and as the codfish are more abundant on the offshore 

 banks, 20 to 200 miles from land, vessels engaged in this fishery now prefer to visit 

 these localities; and they have been doing so, with comparatively few exceptions, 

 for the past fifteen or twenty years. The catch of these vessels, instead of being ex- 

 ported, is now to a great extent consumed iu this country, and our market at present 

 calls for fish cured in a different way, so that the privilege of drying and curing fish 



