1902 DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES. 35 



the salt, the barrels should be firmly filled, and great taste and skill shown in 

 making a nice finish on the top rows, so that when the barrels are opened they 

 will have an attractive appearance. His observations no doubt apply more 

 particularly to salt water herring ; but the directions would be just as 

 applicable, I am told by experienced fishermen, to our fresh water herring, and 

 would be an improvement on the method of curing and packing at present 

 adopted in this province. They are presented here in the hope that they may 

 stimulate the men engaged in the industry to place their goods upon the market 

 in a form to command the highest market price. Ontario herring deserves to 

 have a recognized place in the fish markets of the world, and it is within the 

 province of our fishermen to establish for it that place ; but this cannot be done 

 unless the most approved methods of curing and packing are adopted. 



The Fishing Season. 



There is a growing conviction among fishermen that all fishing in our 

 great lakes should cease on the first December ; and that they would be hun- 

 dreds of dollars in pocket every year if they were obliged to then shut down. 

 It is usually after that date that the most disastrous storms prevail, gill nets 

 are lost, and pound nets are blown out. But the work of destruction does 

 not end here, for the gill net continues to fish, and may fish almost indefinitely ; the 

 decaying fish pollute the water, and fisheries have been practically ruined for 

 years in this way. So that there is much to be said in favor of the fishing 

 season for gill and pound nets closing on December the first. 



Gasoline Engines. 



Fishermen on nearly all of our lakes are equipping their sailboats with 

 gasoline engines as an auxiliary propelling power. The chief advantages claimed 

 for them over steam engines as a motive power are their cheapness, the little 

 space which they occupy in the boat, and their economy of fuel and help. The 

 fishermen are able to reach their fishing grounds and return in calm weither, 

 while under similar conditions with sails much time would be lost in beating 

 their way, and a run which in many cases would thus occupy several hours 

 may be made in a quarter of the time. The fee for a license for a boat so 

 equipped has been $15, while for a sailboat of the same size, and with the same 

 quantity of net, the fee is but $5. The fishermen willingly pay the difference. 

 Engines which will compare favorably in price and efficiency with any foreign 

 production are now being manufactured in our own Province. 



Hoop Net Fishing. 



Strong protestations have been received against the issue of hoop net licenses 

 for waters where they have not heretofore been fished, as being destructive of 

 game fish, and it has been difficult to satisfy the parties that these protestations 

 are not well founded. Where sufficient opportunity has been afforded to de- 

 monstrate the fact, it has been clearly shown that if the nets are fished in strict 

 accordance with the terms of the license, the game fish at once begin to improve 

 and increase. The ling is perhaps the most destructive fish we have upon fry 

 and small fish, and they can be only successfully taken with the hoop net. 

 Overseer Craig reports that 85 ling, one of which weighed 12 pounds, were 

 recently taken in one lift of a hoop net in Bob's Lake. This lake was at one time 

 a fine bass lake, but no netting having been allowed, under the mistaken idea 

 of protecting the fish, the ling have multiplied so rapidly that they now have 

 possession. A few years' judicious fishing will reduce and, it is hoped, ultimately 



