24 THE REPORT OF THE [ No. 6& 



With the above exceptions there have been no very important violations 

 that have come to my notice. Only three convictions have been made by myself 

 and no seizures of nets. This, in comparison with the preceding year, is, I submit 

 encouraging. 



During the year one Anglers' and Game Association has been formed and is 

 now in good working order. Two others will be formed before spring. 



The influx of tourists to the Rideau has been largely in excess of any pre- 

 vious year, and the outlook for the coming season is still more gratifying. Guides 

 and boatmen are beginning to learn what they can earri, and several last season 

 camped at convenient points where tourists came, and found ready and lucrative 

 employment. Fishing was much better than for years past. Solicitations are 

 made continually to keep the waters as free as possible from nets. In a word the 

 fishery laws are practically beginning to get control of the fisheries which hithei- 

 to had been in a state of chaos." 



District Overseer Mathen Brockville : 



Reports that the angling on the River St. Lawrence has been much better 

 than for some years. His district has been carefully inspected. There were 

 several cases of fishing with night lines without license, which he succeeded in 

 putting a stop to, but no other violation came to his knowledge. The several 

 fishery overseers in the district attended to the requirements of the fishery 

 laws by giving their districts a close supervision during the year. Some little 

 difficulty was experienced with parties from the U. S. side of the River St. 

 Lawrence in using seines for catching minnows, and although no seizures were 

 made he succeeded in stopping the practice. He recommends the granting of 

 licenses for seines measuring not more than 80 feet, and for which a charge of 

 S5 each should hd demanded. He would also recommend a close season for 

 pike, which should cover the same period as that for bass. 



Overseer M. Kyle, Rat Portage : 



Reports that " the number of men employed, as well as the nets fished, are 

 much less than last year. This will account to a great extent for the decreased 

 catch. From my knowledge of the conditions, and as a result of enquiries made 

 among the fishermen and also with the superintendent of the Dominion Fish Co., 

 which company buys practically all of the fish caught in these waters. I do not 

 consider that the decrease in catch means that the waters are being depleted, but 

 simply that the industry has not been so vigorously prosecuted during the past 

 season as in former years. There are a good many reasons for this state of 

 affairs : one reason is that at the beginning of the season there was a large stock 

 of fish held in cold storage, and as the outlook was for lower prices during the 

 season a good many men who formerly fished did not do so the past season, but 

 instead went to work, some on their own mining claims and others for mining 

 companies, as well as on the construction of the new Ontario and Rainy River 

 Railroad, which they considered offered a better prospect for them than fishing. 

 Several of my licenses from which I have had no returns were for the winter 

 months only, and as it was too late during the first part of 1900 before the ice 

 was sufficiently strong there was very little fishing done on these licenses. There 

 was also open water for the greater part of December of the present year, so that 

 the winter licenses on the smaller inland lakes were practically not fished. As 

 explained by the superintendent of the Dominion Fish Company, another reason 

 for the decreased catch last season is that during the very early spring there was 

 a continuance of very high east winds, which, it is claimed, drive the fish, especi- 

 ally sturgeon, away from the south-west shores of the Lake of the Woods, where 

 all the pound-net fishing is done. Then the weather turned very warm early in 



