332 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



Purse seining is liable to the following objections: 



1. When a seine is thrown amongst a school of mackerel or other 

 fish the school is broken up and scared, so that what escapes from 



outside the seine enclosure is scared and makes off to deep 

 201 water for a refuge. This effectually destroys all chances of 



boat fishermen, who depend on hand-tines and ordinary nets, 

 for a share of the broken schools. 



2. When, for instance a seine is thrown for mackerel, it encloses the 

 fish of every kind within its great area, and the aggregate quantity 

 of these varieties are frequently much greater than that of the fish 

 sought to be entrapped, including the small, valueless fish as well as 

 the large. 



3. When the seine is closed, and the work of taking out commences, 

 all kinds of fish, large and small, good and bad, which are not of 

 the grade sought, are thrown dead into the sea, thus polluting the 

 bottom to an extent which repels living fish from its proximity. By 

 this method thousands of barrels of herring and hundreds of quintals 

 of cod, including bait and other fish, are destroyed, and boat fisher- 

 men, who are depending on them for a supply, are deprived of all 

 participation in the catch. 



4. The large quantities thus destroyed in the seining process is far 

 beyond the powers of nature to sustain by reproduction, consequently, 

 the fishing grounds are being rapidly depleted of their tenants. 



Mr. J. H. Duvar, late Inspector of Fisheries for Prince Edward 

 Island, in his report for 1888. Fifth Annual Report of the Depart- 

 ment of Fisheries. 1888, Appendix No. 4, says : 



As to the outcry against seining, which has this year been particularly loud, 

 there may be something in it. The effect of 250 fast-sailing vessels chasing the 

 fish all day long can well be imagined. Without going into the doctrine of 

 heredity that continual prosecution develops a new instinct in animals, even in 

 fish, it would almost seem as if the mackerel of the Gulf are growing more 

 wary and shy. Little else can be expected where the fish schools, wherever 

 found, are instantly broken up and the nlarmed fish that escape the meshes 

 make off in wild alarm for miles before they become quiet again. Among these 

 fugitives the hook-and-line fishermen have a poor chance, but the evil is not 

 remediable. 



Mr. W. H. Yenning, late Inspector of Fisheries for New Brunswick, 

 in his report for 1888, Fifth Annual Report, Department of Fisheries, 

 1888, Appendix No. 3, said: 



The failure recorded last year In the mackerel fishery has again occurred, 

 and this year is more complete. In 1880 the catch wns 19.650 barrels and 66.427 

 cans. In 1886 the catch was 17,868 barrels and 70,128 cans. In 1887 only 3,607 

 barrels and 44.278 cans were caught. After making all allowance for the 

 alleged erratic and uncertain movements of mackerel, their pelagic wanderings 

 and changing habitat, so great a decrease in a few years would indicate some 

 general and hitherto unknown cause. In my opinion, based on many years 

 observation, extensive reading and converse with old and experienced mackerel 

 fishers, the causes are: 1 st . The great destruction by purse seines of gravid 

 parents and half-grown young fish; 2 nd . The failing supply of food in Bay 

 Chaleur and the Straits, consequent on the great destruction of smelts, frost 

 fish and flounders in all the Counties bordering these waters, where alone this 

 fish is pursued by our fishermen. The myriads of young fry which formerly 

 crowded all our estuaries and afforded the kinds of food that the mackerel 

 seeks inshore, are no longer there. The w.-iters are depleted of this food: con- 

 sequently, the schools are no longer attracted to the in-shores. We see the 

 same result in American waters, where purse seines have destroyed the g'ravid 

 parents and immature young fish, and the porgies on which they feed. The 

 scarcity of mackerel in American waters, continued with the continued demand 



