THE REPORT UPON No. 32 



detriment of the general public, and from which the dominant fish companies 

 reap a rich and illegal harvest. I hope the combined wisdom of the two able 

 representatives of our respective countries, who are so eminently qualified, 

 from their vast experience, to solve the problem of an equitable system of 

 fish protection in international waters, will succeed in so doing to the satis- 

 faction of all concerned. This important matter has been in abeyance, and 

 going from bad to worse during the last eighteen years, when General R. TJ. 

 Sherman and Dr. G. A. MacCallum, assisted by leading fishery authorities 

 and economists from both sides of the border, unsuccessfully endeavored to 

 reach a mutual understanding on this very important question. To prove 

 the disastrous effect the ignoring of nature's laws and close seasons has had 

 on the fisheries of the Great Lakes, I quote from Report of joint Commission 

 appointed to confer on the subject of fish protection in the International 

 waters between the Canadian Provinces and the State of New York. This 

 meeting, at which I was present, was held at Hamilton, Ontario, on Decem- 

 ber 8th, 1891. The Committee of that Commission reported : "That the 

 food fish supply of the Great Lakes has been for the past thirty years suffer- 

 ing rapid diminution is too apparent to need statistical proof. On the New 

 York side of Lake Ontario, where salmon trout, whitefish, and even the 

 lordly salt water salmon were so abundant as to furnish all the near markets 

 with an abundant supply at prices within reach of the means of the day 

 labourer, the product now scarcely recompenses the netter, and these fish, 

 once so abundant and cheap, are no longer available for food to the multi- 

 tude, but have become table luxuries to be enjoyed only by people of ample 

 means. On the Ohio side of Lake Erie there has been a nearly equal falling 

 off of the higher grades of fish. On the Canada side of these waters, the 

 supply, though showing each year an additional falling off, yet holds good 

 for profitable netting, and it is from the fisheries of Canadian waters that 

 the principal market supply for the State of New York comes." 



The remedy. Given then that the food fish supply needed for the con- 

 sumption of the border States is approaching practical exhaustion, what 

 is the remedy? Two leading measures are obviously necessary. They are 

 protection and multiplication, and to make these effective, concert and har- 

 mony of action is necessary between all the Government authorities inter- 

 ested. If this was the unfortunate state of affairs eighteen years ago, what 

 must it be now, with comparative absence of close seasons in many of these 

 States, and the frequency with which on any flimsy pretence permission 

 has been given our fishermen to continue their destructive work, in some 

 cases during the entire close season, and in others during a considerable part 

 of them. It is unfortunate that by design or otherwise instructions have 

 been sent to the fishermen to continue fishing during a portion of the close 

 season, without those responsible for those instructions having considered ^t 

 necessary to notify you or this Department. I regret during the past tourist 

 season having had to put the law in force against a number of non-resident 

 visitors, some of them occupying prominent positions in judicial and financial 

 affairs, who no doubt claim to be gentlemen. They are not the genuine 

 article who ignore the laws and regulations when temporarily sojourning in 

 a neighbouring country, and when caught try to condone their wrongdoing 

 by traducing the officers they cannot corrupt. Money does not make men 

 gentlemen — that is nature's prerogative. I am glad to know that a con- 

 siderable majority of tourists who spend their vacations in our northern 

 country are gentlemen in all the term implies, who not only obey our laws, 

 but value the facilities for health and enjoyment our lakes and rivers accord 

 them. Those of our summer visitors who are not gentlemen have compelled 



