58 THE REPORT OF THE No. 31 



protection of the fisheries, that no licenses be granted on the lake within a 

 radius of at least two miles from the mouth of any river so as to give the rish a 

 chance to go in and out of the river. 



Overseer Loveday, Ottawa, reports that during the year he had seven 

 persons before the magistrate for violation of the fishery laws, of whom five 

 were convicted and two were dismissed. Angling he reports to have been 

 fairly good. He calls attention to the mill dam on the Carp River which has no 

 fishway. If this dam was removed, or a fishway put in it, fish could ascend for 

 about 25 miles, and he believes lots of fish would do so and reach favorable 

 spawning grounds. At Shelly 's Bay fly fishing has been very good, and some 

 very fine catches have been made. Some of the bass taken were of a 

 much larger size than usual. On the Ottawa he says the fishing was a failure, 

 and he does not wonder at it, as the river is a mass of decaying sawdust and 

 other mill refuse. On the Rideau River the fish seem to be very plentiful but 

 are hard to catch. This, he believes, is due to such an abundance of small fish in 

 the river. 



Overseer McAulay, Bruce, reports that trout and herring fishing in his 

 district has been better this season than any season for the past twenty 

 years, but whitefish seem to be a thing of the past. The fishermen are all well 

 pleased with their catch. He says some of the fishermen had to stop fishing, as 

 they could not get barrels to put their fish in, or salt to cure them. The bass 

 fishing in the Saugeen River was a failure, owing to so much rain. The close 

 seasons were well observed. There were no fines imposed. 



Overseer McCall, Norfolk and Haldimand, reports that there has been a 

 substantial increase in the take of herring, a falling off in the take of whitefish, 

 and an increase in pickerel, which are nearly all blue. In perch there is a 

 decrease. Sturgeon are on the decline, and if not protected in some way, will 

 soon become extinct. Of coarse fish the take is about normal. There has been 

 a great falling off in the take of all kinds of fish in that portion of the waters of 

 Lake Erie where gill nets were set in December, 1901. Southwest of Lon- 

 Point, 10,000 or 15,000 yards of gill net were set and frozen in and fished all 

 winter, and no doubt a windrow of fish that reached for miles was left to decom- 

 pose and pollute the waters, and have driven the fish off their natural feeding 

 and breeding grounds. The tug gill net fishermen, he thinks, should be res- 

 tricted to a specified time for setting their nets, so as to prevent the destruction 

 of fish, and also to prevent the destruction of valuable fishing grounds. There 

 is not probably over one per cent, of the fish taken used for home consumption, 

 the great market being Buffalo. The close seasons, he says, are well observed 

 by the pound net and tug gill net fishermen. In the front of the township of 

 Rainham they make a practice of gilling whitefish in close season. The fish visit 

 the shore, and farmers living along the shore fish, more or less, by setting four 

 or five nets after dark and lifting them before daylight. They only have to go 

 from two to ten hundred yards from the shore to fish. Illegal fishing in and 

 around Long Point is on the increase, and calls for a more vigorous enforcement 

 of the law. There are no saw mills or any streams in his division. The fish 

 ways are of the same character that have been for years. 



Overseer MeComber, Port Arthur, reports that there has been a decrease in 

 the catch of all kinds of fish excepting trout, as compared with the year 1901. 

 The decrease is as follows : Fresh herring, 120,110 lbs., whitefish, 96,884 lbs., 

 pickerel, 153,493 lbs, pike, 119 lbs., sturgeon, 16,639 lbs., salt trout, 140| barrels. 

 The increase is as follows : Trout, 39,746 lbs., and coarse fish 240 lbs. The only 

 explanation he can give for this decrease is, that the fish are decreasing, as about 

 the same number of licenses were fished in 1902 as in 1901. The increase in 



