544 MISCELLANEOUS 



exhausted the coast fisheries along the southern and northern sea- 

 board of the United States. The Fishery Commissioners of the State 

 of Maine, in their reports for 1872-'74, indorse the official statements 

 of the Federal Commissioner, that the sea fishes on the coast of New 

 England have " almost entirely disappeared ", and that " the people 

 are obliged to resort to far-distant regions to obtain the supply which 

 formerly could be secured almost within sight of their homes." 



The following extracts from Professor Baird's report, published 

 in 1873, are conclusive: 



" In view of the facts adduced in reference to the shore fisheries, 

 there can be no hesitation in accepting the statement that there has 

 been an enormous diminution in their number, although this had 

 alreadv occurred to a considerable degree, with some species, by the 

 beginning of the present century. 



" The testimony everywhere, with scarcely an exception, both from 

 line-men and trappers, was that the whole business of fishing was 

 pretty nearly at an end, and that it would scarcely pay parties to 

 attempt to continue the work on a large scale in 1873." 



When the above statements are fairly considered, and when we 

 also consider that the only remedy for this state of decline is to 

 dimmish the numbers and restrict the catchment powers of fishing- 

 engines in use, it is highly improbable that any foreigner will resort 

 to these waters for fishing purposes. 



In a geographical sense, the fishery grounds thus formally opened 

 to British subjects comprise about 2,000 square miles, distant and 

 unproductive, and which, for these and other reasons, are practically 

 unavailable to the British fisherman. It is shown above that the 

 best United States authorities concur in opinion that these fisheries 

 are rapidly becoming exhausted, affording scarcely remunerative 

 employment for American fishermen, who have been themselves 

 obliged to abandon these grounds and resort in large numbers to the 

 more productive waters of Canada. It is as impossible to conceive 

 in theory that British fishermen should forsake their own abundant 

 waters to undertake a long and arduous voyage to those distant and 

 unremunerative fisheries, as it is an undisputed matter of fact that 

 they do not, and, in all probability, never will do so. 



A similar concession embodied in the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, 

 which embraced three degrees more in a southerly direction, extend- 

 ing along the coasts of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and part of 

 North Carolina, to the thirty-sixth parallel of north latitude, proved, 

 during the twelve years it existed, of no practical value whatsoever, 

 not a single British fisherman having utilized it. 



The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance 

 may perhaps be attached by the United States to the supposed ad- 

 vantages derived in this respect by British subjects. It might ap- 

 pear, at first sight, that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of 

 the Eastern States to procure bait for mackerel fishing was of prac- 

 tical use. Menhaden are said to be found only in United States 

 waters, and are used extensively in the mackerel fishing, which is 

 often successfully pursued with this description of bait, especially 

 by its use for feeding and attracting the shoals. It is, however, by 

 no means indispensable ; other fish-baits, plentiful in British waters, 

 are quite as successfully used in this particular kind of fishing busi- 



