DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1947 75 



Commercial Fishing 



Insofar as the ("omnicrcial Fisheries Section of the Division of Fish antl 

 W'ildhfe is concerned, the tisciil year ending March 31, 1947, was largeh' 

 devoted to reorganization, with a view to estabHshing more direct contact 

 with the fishermen themselves and thereb\' increasing the service rendered to 

 them, both individually and through their organizations. Particular attention 

 was given to matters concerning legislation and toward the securing of an adequate 

 statistical set-up to use as a basis for the development of a sound management 

 polic\". 



The commercial fisheries maintained in our Xorthern Inland waters caught 

 and marketed o\er 14 percent of the total catch for Ontario in 1946. Since 

 most of this fishing is done in small inland lakes, it is obvious that commercial 

 fishing operations, unrestricted as to size of catch, could quite easih- result in 

 depletion of certain species. With this in mind, a system of budgeting the 

 catch of indi\-idual licences was instituted in the spring of 1947. Based on the 

 previous production records the catch was limited for certain species. This 

 ceiling on catch was placed on a level at which it was thought production could 

 be maintained b>' leaving sufficient stock in the lake. This limit was set on a 

 flexible basis and with a view to changing it from year to >ear. as conditions 

 warranted. The possibility of the level being raised at a future date, is as great 

 as that it will be lowered, or maintained at the level previously set. 



At the time the Department of Game and Fisheries was taken over by the 

 Department of Lands and Forests and formed into what is now known as the 

 Di\-ision of Fish and Wildlife, it was decided to bring into being a new method 

 of obtaining statistical data regarding the commercial fishing industr\- of the 

 Province'. This new system would thus enable the Department to have on 

 hand a more detailed collection of data, which heretofore was not available. 



Fp to the present time the only information obtainable is the data sub- 

 mitted b\" each holder of a commercial fishing licence at the end of each year. 

 These returns are totalled and made up into an Annual Report, as shown in the 

 two appendices under the headings "Equipment" and "Quantities of Fish Taken". 

 There is, however, no wa\' of obtaining from this Annual Report under the 

 heading "Quantities of Fish Taken" an\- information as to what month the fish 

 were taken, or from what area or district of a lake the fish were taken. There 

 is also no \\a\" of obtaining from this .Annual Report, under both the "Equipment" 

 and "Catch" heading, any information regarding the type of gear used to take 

 an\- particular species, or the amount of gear used to take an\- particular species. 

 This Annual Report, therefore, gives onl\- the total catch In- lake or area of each 

 species of fish taken that xear, which is of \alue in itself, but is not sufficient 

 for a further statistical anaKsis. 



It was felt, therefore, that in order to properh- administer the commercial 

 fisheries, it was essential to have statistical data on hand that would show an 

 indication of the changes in the abundance of the commercial species. It was 

 essential that this data must, therefore, include a record, not onl\- of the quantities 

 of fish taken, but also of the e.xtent of the fishing operations that led to that 

 catch or, in other words, the effort that was put forth to obtain that catch. 

 The true condition of the fisheries, therefore, cannot be measured accurateh" 

 b>- statistics of catch alone but should be expressed in terms of production in 

 relation to fishing intensity', that is, "catch per unit of fishing effort". 



With this in luind the Department created a new s\stem b\' which all 

 licensed fishermen were required to report their daih' fishing activities. I'nder 

 this s\'stem all comiuercial fishermen nnist submit at the end ol each month <i 



