THE PRACTICAL ENFORCEMENT OF FISHERY 

 REGULATIONS 



By Kelly Evans 



In the fifteen minutes at my disposal I shall endeavor to 

 give you a few ideas and observations based on the work 

 I have been doing and the experience I have gained in the 

 course of the last year and a half. 



A royal commission was issued about a year and a half 

 ago by the Ontario government for the purpose of having 

 investigations made into all matters connected with the 

 fisheries and game of that province, and since that time I, 

 as commissioner, have been endeavoring to get information 

 and collect evidence upon the many and various problems 

 involved in such an inquiry. Now, you can easily imagine 

 that to give the faintest idea of the scope of such a work 

 would be an impossibility in a few minutes, and so I have 

 tried to cull just a few basic ideas, as it were, to lay before 

 you. I shall divide the subject into two main divisions, 

 basic causes and basic effects. 



I have found that the two basic causes of depleted 

 fisheries are (1) non-recognition by the public of the 

 importance of the fisheries, and (2) the political influence 

 of the net fishermen. As basic effects I give you ( 1 ) that 

 the officers employed by the states or provinces to enforce 

 the fishery regulations are paid insufficient salaries; (2) 

 that many of the men so employed are not qualified for or 

 suited to the positions; and (3) that business methods are 

 sadly lacking. 



I will give a few words on these main features and also 

 l! endeavor to point out to this Society what appeals to me as 

 ij a practical plan whereby the Society can help in certain 

 directions and aid materially in securing the proper enforce- 

 ment of the fishery regulations. 



Now, gentlemen, in regard to the non-recognition by the 



