THIRTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



Department of Game and Fisheries of Ontario 



TO :THE HONOURABLE G. H. DUNBAR, 



Minister in Charge, 



Department of Game and Fisheries: 



SIR— 



I have the honour to submit to you herewith the Thirty-sixth Annual Report of the 

 Department of Game and Fisheries* outlining a summary of the activities of the various 

 Departmental services, and including condensed statistics for the fiscal year ended March 

 31st, 1943, as well as certain comparative tables. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The natural resources of a nation form the foundation of a stable economic superstruc- 

 ture and its resultant wealth. 



Wild-life is an integral part of the natural resources of the Province of Ontario, and 

 an evaluation of its worth will show that it is an important part of the total economy of the 

 entire Dominion. Briefly, it provides a measure of food and clothing, (fish, flesh and fur), 

 through the usual channels of industry and through the sporting activities of countless 

 thousands of our residents to whom its pursuit affords pleasure and healthful exercise; it 

 creates employment for thousands of our citizens in the important fur industry and its 

 related activities, in the commercial fishing industry, in the manufacture and supply of 

 necessary equipment, as well as for an army of guides, whose business it is to know where and 

 how it may be obtained; it is the greatest asset of our tourist trade, in normal times one of 

 the principal industries of the Province, and which plays an important part in fostering 

 those friendly relations which have prevailed and which now prevail between us and our 

 neighbours to the south. 



"While the economic value of the wild-life of this Province can thus be computed in 

 monetaiy terms, it has a moral and recreational value which is of even greater importance 

 particularly to our own residents, for it is the incentive which attracts countless thousands of 

 people into the great outdoors, where the environment of field and stream is conducive to 

 health, happiness and good citizenship. 



Wild-life is a public trust- in which eveiy citizen of the Province has an equity, and 

 the administrative policies of the Department have been formulated and developed on that 

 premise. It is essential that this division of our natural resources shall not be impaired and 

 that its perpetuation shall be assured. Having this in mind the work of the Department 

 has been directed towards the protection and rehabilitation of these resources and the 

 progressive development of conservation policies intended to promote wise use without 

 reduction of existing stock. Details of how these plans have been advanced during the period 

 under review, as well as information on the present status of such resources, will be found 

 elsewhere in this report. 



The broad policy of conservation which has characterized administrative control for 

 more than three decades has assumed a new importance during the present emergency. The 

 public liae become deeply conscious of the value of conservation as an aid to economic security 



CD 



