XXII REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



on Canadian soil, now that the vessels are large enough to readily carry the undried 

 fish, is no longer of any advantage whatever to our fishermen. 



Formerly vessels employed in the mackerel fisheries were provided only with hand- 

 lines, and the crews caught the fish from the vessel's deck. When fishing in this way 

 they found it desirable to grind up fish and clams, which they threw in large quanti- 

 ties into the water to attract the mackerel and keep them in the vicinity of the vessel. 

 The hest results were then obtained by fishing in shoal water, as the bait thrown 

 overboard could not sink to any great depth, and the entire body of fish were thus 

 kept near the surface, where (hey were within reach of the hook and line. About 

 1,865 purse-seines were introduced for the capture of mackerel, and in a few years they 

 came to be generally adopted by vessels employed in the mackerel fishery. These are 

 fished to best advantage at some distance from the shore, and the iishermen usually 

 avoid shoal water, as the seines are liable to be ruined when set in depths where the 

 lead lines may chance to come in contact with the bottom. 



During earlier years the halibut fishery in the vicinity of Provincial shores was of 

 some slight importance to the American fishermen, but this has been confined wholly 

 to deep water, many miles from land, since 1875. 



The shore herring fisheries, and the occasional capture of certain species for bait, 

 were also at one time of value to fishermen from the United States ; but such a de- 

 cided opposition on the part of the resident Provincial fishermen was manifested to 

 the exercise of the privilege of taking fish, accorded by the Treaty of Washington, 

 that the practice of catching their own supply was practically abandoned, and the 

 fishermen have almost without exception, since the well-known difficulty at Fortune 

 Bay, Newfoundland, about ten years ago, purchased their cargoes of herring from the 

 local fishermen, and, where these had no suitable apparatus for obtaining the same, 

 have carried their own apparatus and hired the provincial fishermen to manipulate it. 



The mackerel is, then, the only species of any importance visiting Provincial 

 waters which American fishermen at present desire to catch within 3 miles of the 

 shore, or indeed within a much greater distance. This is practically the only Pro- 

 vincial shore fishery in which our fishermen have had any considerable interest sinco 

 the ratification of the Treaty of Washington, as the great majority of our vessels em- 

 ployed in other fisheries on the banks off the Provincial coast seldom fish nearer than 

 25 or 30 miles from land, and a majority of them secure their cargoes from 100 to 200 

 miles from shore. 



At the present time the advantage to be derived from any privilege of fishing within 

 3 miles of the Canadian coasts, even for mackerel, is comparatively insignificant, as 

 the results of the season which has just closed show conclusively that our vessels 

 which have fished wholly outside of the 3-mile limit have done fully as well as the 

 Canadian vessels which have had the opportunity of fishing everywhere, without re- 

 striction as to distance from shore. 

 Question 3. In the method of fishing on that open sea, or in those open bays, of 



preserving the catch and sending it to our ports for a market now desirable for our 



American fishermen, of what importance is the right to enter, in a commercial way, 



British colonial ports in the neighborhood? 



The nature of the occupation of fishing, when the size of the vessel is considered, 

 renders it impossible for a fishing vessel to provide against all contingencies. On 

 leaving the home ports the vessels are ordinarily provided with what is supposed to 

 be a full outfit of provisions and apparatus, but a scarcity of fish may render it de- 

 sirable that it should remain on the fishing grounds longer than was expected, or it 

 may be delayed by head-winds, storms, or floating ice, until the supply of provisions 

 or water is exhausted. It then becomes convenient, in order to prevent actual suffer- 

 ing, that the vessel should make a harbor and obtain additional quantities. Instances 

 have occm-red during the present year when vessels short of provisions have attempted 

 to reach one of our own ports to obtain a supply rather than incur the risk of seizure 

 by entering those of Canada for that purpose. 



