50 The Fishery Q2iestion. 



the penalties of fines and confiscations for 

 trespass, was used by the Provincial legisla- 

 tures to set a premium on interference with 

 American fishermen.''^ The growth of the 

 mackerel fishery, the habit of the fish to run 

 in shore, " chumming," ^° viz., the throwing 

 out of surface bait, an oily mixture of porgies 

 and clams, and the fact that half the Ameri- 

 can mackerel fleet visited the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and the Bay of Chaleurs, via the 

 Strait of Canso, increased the temptation of the 

 Americans to transgress the three-mile limit 

 and intensified the determination of the in- 

 habitants to enforce a strict interpretation. 

 Only one vessel was seized in 1823. In 1824 

 nine were taken. The following year, peti- 

 tions from merchants and fishermen induced 

 the United States Government to send a war 

 vessel to the fishing grounds.^' The repre- 

 sentations of the United States Government 

 remained without an answer, nor had the 

 British Government received a reply to their 

 note. The State Department incurred the 

 reproach of inactivity. American vessels, 

 said to have committed no serious infraction 

 of the convention, were chased about by Brit- 

 ish and Provincial captains on charges of 



