THE REPORT OF THE No. 31 



cient only to pay for the expense of issuing and delivering the same. An 

 extension of the privilege to other sections of the Province during the same 

 period may properly be considered. 



New Ontario. 



Many applications have been received for fishing privileges in the lakes 

 of New Ontario, but the Department has been afforded no sufficient reason 

 for reconsidering its policy that no licenses for commercial fishing ahould 

 be granted within the agricultural belt. Intelligent settlers are not slow 

 to investigate the natural resources of the locality in which they purpose 

 settling, and they fully appreciate the fact that of these resources the waters 

 in their vicinity must for many years be relied upon as an important source 

 from which much of their food is to be derived. Indeed, for a considerable 

 period this consideration will be of far greater importance than even the 

 educational or social opportunities which the country may offer. There- 

 fore, nothing should be permitted that is calculated to deprive these pioneers 

 of such advantages, but rather that every practicable means should be 

 adopted for their preservation and perpetuation. There is no doubt how- 

 ever that there may be many lakes in the vicinity of which the land is not 

 suitable for tillage, and which do not contain game fish, in which licenses 

 might be issued and a revenue derived therefrom. 



Sturgeon. 



The gradual decline in the catch of sturgeon has been referred to in 

 former reports, and a comparison of the catch this year with that of last 

 year is a further indication thajt there is no abatement in this decline, for 

 the increase shown in some places can be attributed to more extensive oper- 

 ations having been carried on and not to an increase in supply, and if the 

 destruction continues without regard to age or spawning season for a few 

 years longer, its complete annihilation must, of course, follow. So alarm- 

 ed at the prospect have Americans become that they have already been at- 

 tempting artificial propagation, and though it has been demonstrated that 

 •— — can be successfully done, yet the expense with which it is attended and 

 the difficulty of obtaining the fish in proper condition would seem to indi- 

 cate that its restoration can be accomplished more effectively bv natural 

 increase. Therefore, the resolution presented at the Detroit Conference 

 mat in its opinion the time had come when the taking of these fish in any 

 manner for commercial purposes should be prohibited for a period of five 

 years was unanimously adopted. A regulation was passed by the Dominion 

 Government in 1903 that none should be taken durinsr the month of May 

 and June, and none under four feet in length, but this regulation has not 

 been enforced until such time as the border States may pass similar legis- 

 lation. This Province has been asked to do something towards stocking 

 depleted waters, but under existing conditions expenditure on this account 

 would be practically wasted. 



Trap Nets. 



These nets are prohibited in Ontario by Dominion Act, 49 Vict. chap. 

 95, sec. 14, s.8. 7, but are extensively used in the Georgian Bay and in the 

 North Channel of Lake Huron, and notwithstanding that thousands have 



