Third Annual Report 



OF THE 



Game and Fisheries Department 



To the Honourable J. 0. Eeadme, 



Minister of Public Works. 



SiE, — I have the honour to submit for your information and approval the 

 report of the Department of Game and Fisheries for the ten months ending October 

 30th, 1909. 



In consequence of the change in the fiscal year from December 31st to October 

 30th, this report cannot be as complete as those of former years. Many of the 

 statistics and other matters that can only be computed from the end of the calendar 

 year will therefore appear in the report for 1909-1910, comprising the last two 

 months of 1909. I desire to call your attention to the fact that a large portion 

 of the revenue of the Department is received during the last two months of the 

 year, the revenue from which will appear in next report. Notwithstanding this, 

 the revenue is considerably in excess of that for the first ten months of 1908. This, 

 I venture to hope, will be satisfactory to you and all concerned. 



Enforcing Lav^s and Regulations. 



I regret having been compelled to prosecute during the present year for infrac- 

 tions of the fishery laws a number of fishermen, farmers and others, who, having 

 obtained licenses for alleged domestic purposes, have grossly abused the privileges 

 accorded them, by illegally catching, selling and exporting black bass. These 

 parties foolishly killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Most of these infrac- 

 tions occurred in localities and vicinities of summer resorts visited by large numbers 

 of foreign tourists, the attraction being the angling for bass and other game fish. 

 It is surprising that men living in these favoured localities should be so shortsighted 

 to their own permanent intere^s as these men have proven themselves to be for 

 doubtful and temporary gain. These men, instead of being poachers and law- 

 breakers, if alive to their own interests, would neither violate the law nor allow 

 others to do so. Having a market for their produce and a demand for their services 

 as guides, etc., and highly remunerative terms, should convince them of the folly 

 of their past conduct and the wisdom of the Government in protecting and per- 

 petuating the interests of those evidently unable to protect themselves. I fail to 

 realize why the conditions of a license to take fish from the public waters should 

 not be carried out and observed to the same extent as those relating to cutting and 

 taking timber from the public domain. They are both valuable assets, and the 

 same conditions should prevail. There is only one way to accomplish this, and that 

 is to let all obtaining licenses realize in the most unmistakable manner that it is 

 a business transaction, and must be carried out on business principles to the fullest 

 extent, and in the event of their failure to do so no influence will be tolerated or 

 allowed to shield them from the consequences of their wrong doing. Men who 



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