534 MISCELLANEOUS 



454 as shown by official returns of the local collectors of customs. 

 The exact number of other vessels which then refused to take out 

 licenses on the pretext that they intended fishing in outside waters, 

 was not, of course, recorded; but we are justified in assuming from 

 the observations of qualified persons, whose oral or written testimony 

 will be offered to the Commission if required, that at least 600 more 

 were also engaged in the mackerel and other fisheries in British 

 waters. 



It is stated in the annual report of the United States Secretary of 

 the Treasury for 1871 that " The district of Gloucester is most ex- 

 tensively engaged in this occupation; her cod and jnackerel fleet, 

 amounting to 548 vessels, 28,569 tons, showing an increase of 97 

 vessels since June 30, 1870." The same authority states in the annual 

 report for 1872 that " the tonnage employed in the cod and mackerel 

 fisheries has increased somewhat for the past three years." 



Thirty-nine new fishing vessels were built at the port of Gloucester. 

 Mass., alone, in 1874, and about fifty more were to be built in the 

 next following year; and as there are several other important out- 

 fitting ports in the same State, besides many others in the States of 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Khode Island, Connecticut, and New York, 

 it is fair to infer that a corresponding increase in the fishing-fleet 

 from these numerous ports will also take place now that the Canadian 

 fisheries are reopened to their vessels. These five States added 243 

 schooners to their fishing-fleet in 1866, when the inducements to build 

 were less certain. There is therefore good reason to anticipate that 

 in the course of the twelve years stipulated in the present treaty, a 

 still greater impetus will be given to the fishing industry and com- 

 merce of the United States. Such a result may be more confidently 

 expected in consequence of the rapid increase of population and 

 extension of settlements, the more numerous markets opened up by 

 railway enterprises, and the growing demand for fish-food from the 

 seaboard to replace the failing supplies from inland waters. 



The withdrawal of New England tonnage from the whale fishery, 

 in consequence of the rapid decline of that pursuit as a paying ad- 

 venture, will most likely have the effect of engaging other sail in the 

 more lucrative branches of marine industry. Mr. K. D. Cutts, in 

 an able report to the United States Government on the political 

 importance and economic conditions of the fisheries, expresses some 

 apprehension of the imminent failure of the cod and other fisheries 

 on the Grand Banks. Should such ensue, it would probably engage 

 additional tonnage in the inshore fisheries around the coasts of 

 Canada. 



We are therefore warranted in reckoning a yearly average number 

 of vessels as availing themselves of the privileges accorded to United 

 States citizens by the Treaty of Washington at about 1,000 reserving 

 the right to show the probability of a still larger number being so 

 engaged. 



Second. American fishermen pursue their calling around the 

 islands and in the harbors of the Bay of Fundy, and along parts of 

 the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick bordering the said bay; 

 down the south coast of Nova Scotia, and around the island of Cape 

 Breton ; thence through the Strait of Canso, along the northern coast 

 of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; thence through the Strait of 

 Northumberland, and all around Prince Edward Island, particularly 



