4# THE REPORT OF THE No. 31 



There have been no abuses, and his fisheremn have mostly observed the 

 close seasons. 



There have been three charges of illegal fishing in his district during 

 1904, which have been reported. 



There are no mills in his district, and no fishways. 



Overseer Sargent, Bronte, Lake Ontario, reports that there is a decrease 

 in the catch of fish as compared with last year. The cause is owing to a less 

 vigorous prosecution of the industry, as most of the fishermen lost a large 

 portion of their nets during the months of January and February, the 

 weather being the roughest and coldest ever experienced by the fishermen. 

 Some of those who had fished two boats in former years were obliged to only 

 fish one, as they had such heavy losses in nets, and it will take some time 

 to ouild them up again. 



The ciscoe which they have had in former years, and which he mention- 

 ed in his last year's report, are returning; fully fifty per cent, of all the 

 fish which were caught this year were pure ciscoes. 



He is of the opinion that if there was a close season adopted for two 

 months in the winter, say during the months of January and February, the 

 fishermen would be hundreds of dollars in pocket, for during those months 

 there are a great number of nets lost, and it must pollute the fishing ground 

 to have the old and decayed fish left in the water. There were thousands 

 of yards of net last year swept away by storms, and no doubt those nets 

 would be full of fish. 



He is pleased to report that the trout fishing is improving every year, 

 and some fine specimens were taken this last season, a number weighing 

 twenty pounds. The fishermen use six and seven inch mesh net, finding 

 it pays a great deal better th,?n a smaller mesh. 



All fish were disposed of in the home markets. 



Angling has been very good, and some very fine specimens of black bass 

 has been taken from the Twelve and Sixteen Mile creeks. 



The laws and regulations are well observed. 



Overseer Shewen, Apsley, Peterboro County, reports that he does not 

 .think there was any increase in the catch of fish in his district for the past 

 year. About the same number of American and Canadian tourists visited 

 the district as last year. All fish caught were used for home consumption. 

 He visited all the camps that came into his district, and posted up the fishery 

 regulations at all places where they would be of most use. On his last 

 round he found the linen ones that were furnished him by the Department 

 had withstood the weather very satisfactorily. 



He finds that there is a tendency for some of the tourists (not all) to ex- 

 ceed the limit in a day's catch, especially in Long Lake district, Township 

 of Burleigh, where they imagine there should be no law. He interviewed 

 a number of the guides, and urged them to assist in seeing that the law 

 was strictly observed in this regard, and he showed them the folly of allow- 

 ing wholesale catches, that it was against their own interests, for, if allow- 

 ed, the lakes would be fished out and their occupation gone, no fish, no tour- 

 ists to guide. He is convinced that his advice bore good fruits in this re- 

 spect. No fish were wasted, as the settlers who supplied milk, eggs, etc., 

 to the different camps, were always given any fish that were not wanted, to 

 take home with them. 



There was no damage done to fish by reason of mill refuse being dumped 

 into the streams. 



There are no fishways in his district. He would recommend that 

 certain lakes in his district be stocked with fish, notablv Wolf and Crab 



