482 APPENDIX TO BRITISH CASE. 



there are strong grounds -for believing that year by year, as United States fish- 

 ermen resort in greater numbers to the coasts of Nervfoundland for the purpose 

 of procuring bait and supplies, they icill become more intimately acquainted 

 with the resources of the inshore fisheries and their unlimited capacity for ex- 

 tension and development. As a matter of fact, United States vessels have, 

 since the Washington Treaty came into operation, been successfully engaged in 

 these fisheries ; and it is but reasonable to anticipate that, as the advantages to 

 be derived from them become more widely known, larger numbers of United 

 States fishermen will engage in them. 

 A participation by fishermen of the United States in the freedom of these 



waters must, notwithstanding their wonderfully reproductive capacity, 

 287 tell materially on the local catch, and, while affording to the United States 



fishermen a profitable employment, must seriously interfere with local 

 success. The extra amount of bait also which is required for the supply of the 

 United States demand for the bank fishery must have the effect of diminishing 

 the supply of cod for the inshores, as it is well known that the presence of that 

 fish is caused by the attraction offered by a large quantity of bait fishes, and 

 as this quantity diminishes the cod will resort in fewer numbers to the coast. 

 The effect of this diminution may not in all probability be apparent for some 

 years to come, and while United States fishermen will have the liberty of 

 enjoying the fisheries for several years in their present teeming and remunera- 

 tive state, the effects of overfishing may, after their right to participate in them 

 has lapsed, become seriously prejudicial to the interests of the local fishermen. 

 (/&., pp. 103, 104.) 



****** * 



It is impossible to offer more convincing testimony as to the value to United 

 States fishermen of securing the right to use the coast of Newfoundland as a 

 basis of operations for the bank fisheries than is contained in the declaration 

 of one who has been for six years so occupied, sailing from the ports of Salem 

 and Gloucester, in Massachusetts, and who declares that it is of the greatest 

 importance to United States fishermen to procure from Newfoundland the bait 

 necessary for those fisheries, and that such benefits can hardly be overesti- 

 mated ; that there will be, during the season of 1876, upward of two hundred 

 United States vessels in Fortune Bay for bait, and that there will be upward 

 of three hundred vessels from the United States engaged in the Grand Bank 

 fishery ; that owing to the great advantage of being able to run into Newfound- 

 land for bait of different kinds, they are enabled to make four trips during the 

 season; that the capelin, which may be considered as a bait peculiar to New- 

 foundland, is the best which can be used for this fishery, and that a vessel 

 would probably be enabled to make two trips during the capelin season, which 

 extends over a period of about six weeks. The same experienced deponent is 

 of opinion that the bank fisheries are capable of immense expansion and 

 development, and that the privilege of getting bait on the coast of Newfound- 

 land is indispensable for the accomplishment of this object. 



As an instance of the demand for bait supplies derived from the Newfound- 

 land inshore fisheries, it may be useful to state that the average amount of 

 this article consumed by the French fishermen, who only prosecute the bank 

 fisheries during a period of about six months of the year, is from $120,000 to 

 $160,000 annually. The herring, capelin, and squid amply meet these require- 

 ments and are supplied by the people of Fortune and Placentia Bays, the 

 produce of the Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon being insufficient to meet 

 the demand. 



It is evident from the above considerations that not only are the United 

 States fishermen almost entirely dependent on the bait supply from Newfound- 

 land, now open to them for the successful prosecution of the bank fisheries, 

 but also that they are enabled, through the privileges conceded to them by the 

 Treaty of Washington, to largely increase the number of their trips, and thus 

 considerably augment the profits of the enterprise. This substantial advan- 

 tage is secured at the risk, as before mentioned, of hereafter depleting the bait 

 supplies of the Newfoundland inshores, and it is but just that a substantial 

 equivalent should be paid by those who profit thereby. 



We are therefore warranted in submitting to the Commissioners that not 

 only should the present actual advantages derived on this head by United 

 States fishermen be taken into consideration, but also the probable effect of 

 the concessions made in their favour. The inevitable consequence of these 

 concessions will be to attract a larger amount of United States capital and 

 enterprise following the profits already made in this direction, and the effect 



