1900 ] FISHERIES DEPARTMENT. 25 



the summer, and in order to save the nets they were taken out and were not 

 fished for a period of six weeks, so that to all intents and purposes the pound- 

 net fishing only extended over a period of about three weeks in the spring and 

 six or seven weeks in the fall. In one or two instances the nets were not fished 

 even that length of time in the fall, as owing to their exposed position and the 

 prevalence ot heavy storms a good many of the nets were destroyed in the water. 

 Altogether the fishermen have had a rather hard time of it during the past 

 season, and looking at the matter from all points, the returns are fully as good as 

 could be expected under' the circumstances. 



As in former years, nearly the whole of the catch is exported to American 

 markets by the C. P. R. from this point. This applies to the fish caught on the 

 American" side, which are also shipped from here in bond. A small proportion of 

 the Canadian catch is shipped to eastern Canadian markets, notably Montreal, 

 which takes some of the coarser varieties, such as pike and buffalo, but the 

 quantity is small, and fully 75 per cent, of the whole catch goes to the United 

 States. 



No violations of the close season were brought to my notice and I think on 

 the whole they were well observed. The only fishway in my district is that in a 

 dam belonging to the Keewatin Power Co., on the Winnipeg river, near this 

 town, but owing to the stop-logs having kept the water in the dam up to its 

 normal height the fishway has been in good working order. The only violations 

 of the fishery regulations in this district took place in the latter part of May, 

 1900, when I made a seizure of a number of American- gill-nets in Canadian 

 waters, near the mouth of Rainy river. These gill-nets were seized and stored 

 by me in Rat Portage, and finally sold to the Dominion Fish Co., as reported in 

 my correspondence to your Department on the subject. There was also some 

 trouble with Indians catching sturgeon by means of night-line on Rainy river, 

 but upon my investigating the matter I found, as reported in my letter of June 

 5, that most of the fishing had been done outside of my district on Rainy river 

 between Barwick and Fort Francis. I wrote the Indian agent at Fort Francis in 

 the matter and he took steps, as far as the Indians were concerned, to have the 

 trouble stopped." 



Overseer Fm. McKirdy, Nepigon, reports : 



" That the year 1900 just closed, from a revenue point of view, has been the 

 most successful in its history, and although this increase of revenue has been 

 secured by raising the price of fishing permits, visitors are well pleased with the 

 results. 



" The river has been patrolled by Charles de Laronde, overseer, and the pro- 

 visions of the law maintained, particular attention being given to the sanitary 

 condition of the camping grounds, on which the pleasure of the trip depends in a 

 great measure. 



" I estimate the amount spent by the tourists at Nepigon at $9,000 ; this does 

 not include railway, steamboat or hotel expenses." 



Overseer Alex. McComber, of Port Arthur, reports as follows: 



" There was an apparent decrease in the catch for 1900 as compared with 

 1899. I think this may be explained by the fact that there was practically no 

 fishing during the month of December on account of the ice not having formed. 

 The tishermen do not care to trust their nets in the open water late in the fall. 

 There has been no ice in the bay up to the present except a small fringe around 

 the edge. The bay is practically open now. The weather has been so mild that 

 no thick ice has formed and what has formed has been broken up by winds 

 shortly afterwards. 



