fresh water of the globe, Canada's share of the 

 great lakes of the St. Lawrence basin amount- 

 ing to 72,700 square miles. Then, if further 

 resources were wanting, there are the countless 

 rivers, creeks and other streams in practically 

 all cases teeming with many palatable fish. 



Many Varied Species 



The fertility of Canadian waters is evidenced 

 by the fact that the entire catch of salmon, 

 lobsters, herring, mackerel and sardines, nearly 

 all the haddock, and a large portion of the cod, 

 hake, and pollock landed are taken within ten 

 or twelve miles from shore. The most extensive 

 lobster fishery in the world is carried on along 

 the whole of the eastern shore of Canada whilst 

 excellent oyster beds exist in many parts of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, notably off Prince Edward 

 Island. 



The commercial fishes taken inshore on the 

 Atlantic are cod, hake, halibut, pollock, haddock, 

 herring, mackerel, alewives, shad, smelt, flounder 

 and sardine. 



The salmon fishery is the predominant one 

 on the Pacific coast, though a very extensive 

 halibut fishery is carried on in the Northern 

 waters of British Columbia. Herring is also 

 found in great abundance off the Pacific coast 

 and provides a plentiful supply of bait for the 

 halibut fishery. The lakes and rivers all over 

 the vast area teem with whitefish, trout, pike, 

 pickerel, perch and tullibee. 



The fisheries of Canada are among her first 

 exploited assets, and the fishing industry is of a 

 staple and continuous nature providing at all 

 times, with very little fluctuation, employment 

 for a vast army of people, and supplying an 

 important export market. 



Canadian fisheries produce in all about 

 $50,000,000 annually and give employment to 

 between 80,000 and 100,000 persons. About 

 70,000 people are engaged on the sea fisheries, 

 the inland, freshwater fisheries, employ about 

 10,000, whilst approximately 20,000 persons find 

 employment in canning, curing, and otherwise 

 dealing with the product for the market. In 

 1920, the fish products of her two coasts netted 

 to Canada the sum of $26,153,844 and in the 

 previous year the catch from the inland waters 

 was worth $4,314,952. 



Canning and Curing Plants 



There were 928 fish canning and curing estab- 

 lishments in operation in the Dominion at the 

 end of 1919, with 18,356 employees receiving 

 wages and salaries totalling $4,257,811. The 

 total value of the products of these plants in that 

 year was: fish marketed for consumption, fresh, 

 $4,667,041; canned, cured, or otherwise prepared, 

 $27,505,712. The value of materials used in 



these establishments amounted to $19,329,966. 

 Subdivided these canneries are found to be: 

 520 lobster canneries; 1 sardine cannery; 13 clam 

 and other canneries; 76 salmon canneries; 10 

 whale oil and fish oil factories; and 308 fish 

 curing establishments. 



It is stated that edible fish in Canada com- 

 prise six hundred different varieties of which 

 only about one hundred and fifty are known, 

 whilst hardly more than twenty have become 

 really important factors on the market. The 

 lack of knowledge as to the food values of many 

 of these fish is resulting in a lamentable wastage 

 of regrettable proportions, as well as a loss of con- 

 siderable revenue to Canada. A good deal of 

 work has been done by the Dominion govern- 

 ment and others to increase this knowledge and 

 to popularize in diet the use of more fish, some 

 varieties of which are stated to be almost the 

 equal of beef. 



Though the fishery resources of the Dominion 

 of Canada can be said to have been barely tapped 

 as yet, the same fields are being continually 

 exploited and it is the constant care of the gov- 

 ernment that these grounds shall not become 

 depleted or exhausted. To safeguard this a 

 valuable work is performed by the Government 

 Fisheries Branch in conducting experimentation 

 and investigation, and most of all in restocking 

 these waters. 



There are nearly fifty hatcheries producing 

 young fish to replenish the lakes and streams and 

 the commercial fishing fields of the Atlantic and 

 Pacific. In one year these hatcheries were 

 responsible for putting back into the waters the 

 equivalent of 985,024,250 fish. 



Unexploited Waters 



If the waters of Canada generally known and 

 exploited are only at the present time tapped, 

 what can be said of the enormous resources of 

 the Dominion which up to the present time are 

 practically unexplored. In the Hudson's Bay 

 and along the Arctic coast are fisheries whose 

 potentiality can be only a matter of rough 

 estimate, but whose waters in future years, with 

 the expansion of the Dominion, will inevitably 

 become a fruitful source of food to Canada and 

 her export markets. The waters of British 

 Columbia too, according to experts, contain 

 many valuable varieties of fish which up to the 

 present time are unmarketable because people 

 have not been educated in their food values. 



This lack of fish knowledge is also forming a 

 handicap in the development of the branch of 

 the industry interested in canning, curing, and 

 putting up fish for the market. The ignorance 

 of food values is responsible for an extensive 

 wastage in the discarding of many varieties of 

 fish which could be utilized. 



The fish canning and curing industry offers 

 opportunities for initiative. 



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