46 THE REPORT ON [ No. 27 



been, on the whole, fairly active in the discharge of their duties, and that there appears 

 to be no diminution in the quantity of fish in the various lakes ; and he further reports 

 that in the opinion of the overseers in his division the sale of bass should be prohibited, 

 and that the close season for trout should be extended to the 10th of October ; and that 

 the close season for maskinonge* should be the same as for bass, from 15th of April to 

 15 th of June. 



District Overseer Pratt reports : 



That the season has been a profitable one both to the fishermen and the dealers j 

 that a smaller number than in former years have been engaged in fishing ; that prices 

 have ruled higher, and that with the exception of a few particular localities in Georgian 

 Bay, fish are decidedly on the increase. He is of the opinion that the causes of the 

 non-increase of fish in some localities are : (1) That in former years, saw dust had been 

 allowed to enter several streams and thereby became deposited over a considerable area 

 at river mouths ; (2; that the towing of large rafts of logs is detrimental to both fish, 

 life and fishing operations ; and (3) a fermentation process takes place when fresh bark 

 is deposited in the water, which causes the fish to avoid such places. 



The fishermen, he says, complain that tugmen are not careful to avoid unnecessary 

 damage to nets, but frequently tow their rafts over net buoys, often getting foul of th 

 buoy line, dragging and tearing valuable property. He is of the opinion that the preser 

 vation line, inside of which net fishing is not allowed, is too far from shore from off 

 Moose Point north, and that there does not appear to be any good reason for shutting oft 

 so many acres of water. 



Speaking of the Gilphie he aays : " The purchase of the Gilphie was a most excellent 

 one, the boat being an ideal one in every respect for the purpose intended, and her pres- 

 ence in these waters had a beneficial effect." 



Lake op the Woods Division. 



Overseer M. Kyle reports : 



That the catch of white fish and pickerel in the division aggregates the same as last 

 year ; that trout shows an increase of over 150 per cent.; that tullibee is six times greater ; 

 but that bullheads do not appear at all in this year's returns, as, owing to the extraordi- 

 narily open winter, no fishing could be done on the ice during December. 



He calls attention to the fact of the great difference to be noticed in sturgeon, which 

 shows a decrease of more than fifty per cent, and states that fishermen claim this to be 

 largely due to the east winds which prevailed during the greater part of the early summer 

 fishing, and that consequently they had only about one half of the season. He believes this 

 theory to be strengthened by the fact that the American fishermen, situated on the west 

 side of the lake, report an abnormally heavy catch, in fact the heaviest in years, and that 

 this was attributed to the same cause, namely, the easterly winds. 



As formerly, the great bulk of the catch was exported to the American markets by 

 the C. P. R , via Port Arthur, those caught on the American side being shipped in bond. 

 He say 8 the close seasons were well observed, and that attention was called to these 

 by posting up notices in the different fishing centres ; that no violation of the fishery reg 

 ulations came under his notice, and that the mill-owners took precautions to prevent saw 

 dust getting into the water. 



He reports only one fishway in his district, namely, that belonging to the Keewatin 

 Power Co., in their dam on the Winnipeg River ; that it is in good order, having been 

 examined by him several times during the season, and especially just before the close sea 

 son ; that, on the whole, the seaeon of 1899 may be classed as a fairly satisfactory one ; 

 that prices, all round, were better than in former years ; that a better market has been 

 found for trout, as well as some cf the coarser varieties, while in former years whitefish 

 and pickerel were practically the only marketable fish, which resulted often, to his know- 

 ledge, in large quantities of pike etc. being thrown away as valueless, or else spoiling on 

 the fishermen's hands for want of a market. 



Lake Superior. 

 Overseer McComber reports : 



That the fishing in his district was better last year in some parts and about the 

 same in other places as the year before. 



