538 MISCELLANEOUS 



2. Liberty to land for the purpose of drying nets, curing fish, &c. 



The privileges secured to United States subjects in this respect by 

 the Treaty of Washington are the liberty to land for purposes con- 

 nected with fishing on the coasts of Labrador, the Magdalen Islands, 

 and the other portions of the seaboard of the Dominion of Canada. 

 As the rights thus secured to United States fishermen for a period 

 of twelve years vary somewhat in the different localities above 

 named, it will be well to consider them separately. 



Under the convention of 1818, United States citizens were privi- 

 leged to fish on certain parts of the coast of Labrador, but were re- 

 stricted in the liberty of drying and curing fish to unsettled places. 

 Such districts as were then occupied, or might subsequently become 

 settled, were reserved for the exclusive use of British fishermen, and 

 rights and properties possessed by the Hudson's Bay Company were 

 likewise reserved from common user. Gradual settlement (luring 

 fifty years past has filled up nearly all available landing places along 

 the southern coast of Labrador, between Blanc Sablon and Mount 

 Joly ; and the establishments maintained by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, whose rights and privileges are now acquired by Canada, have 

 confirmed the exclusive occupancy contemplated by the Convention. 

 Under such altered circumstances United States fishermen might 

 have been excluded under the terms of the Convention from using 

 these landings, without the free use of which the fisheries cannot be 

 profitably pursued. The fish taken in these waters include herring, 

 codfish, and sometimes mackerel, which are seined on the main shore, 

 and among the islands throughout that region, and the famous " Lab- 

 rador herring " ? which abounds there. 



The Convention of 1818 entitled United States citizens to fish on 

 the shores of the Magdalen Islands, but denied them the privilege of 

 landing there. Without such permission the practical use of the 

 inshore fisheries was impossible. Although such permission has 

 tacitly existed, as a matter of sufferance, it might at any moment 

 have been withdrawn, and the operations of United States fishermen 

 in that locality would thus have been rendered ineffectual. The value 

 of these inshore fisheries is great ; mackerel, herring, halibut, capelin, 

 and launce abound, and are caught inside of the principal bays and 

 harbors, where they resort to spawn. Between three hundred and 

 four hundred United States fishing-vessels yearly frequent the waters 

 of this group, and take large quantities of fish, both for curing and 

 bait. A single seine has been known to take at one haul enough of 

 herrings to fill 3,000 barrels. Seining mackerel is similarly produc- 

 tive. During the spring and summer fishery of the year 1875, when 

 the mackerel were closer inshore than usual, the comparative failure 

 of the American fishermen was owing to their being unprepared 

 with suitable hauling-nets and small boats, their vessels being unable 

 to approach close enough to the beaches. 



In the case of the remaining portions of the seaboard of Canada, 

 the terms of the Convention of 1818 debarred United States citizens 

 from landing at any part for the pursuit of operations connected with 

 fishing. This privilege is essential to the successful prosecution of 

 both the inshore and deep-sea fisheries. By it they would be enabled 

 to prepare their fish in a superior manner, in a salubrious climate, 

 as well as more expeditiously, and they would be relieved of a serious 



