118 FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



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; The decrease of the Fishery in the Bay of Chaleurs, 

 since the late peace with the United States is so great, that 

 at Tracadiah (Carleton), and Cascapedia (New Richmond) 

 where the fishermen used to make it worth their while to carry 

 on regular fisheries, they have of late caught very little more 

 than for their own consumption, the rest came far short of 

 paying their out-fit. At Bonaventure, New Carlisle, Paspe- 

 biac, Nouvelle, and Port Daniel, the fish is yearly decreasing. 

 Out of the Bay (to the northward and eastward) towards 

 Perce, etc., since the above period a sensible decrease in the 

 fishery has also been experiencd, though not in as great a de- 

 gree as in the Bay. It is generally supposed by persons who 

 have practised the cod fishery in this bay, both in schooners 

 and boats, that it receives (the Bay) its chief supply of fish 

 from the southward on the Orphan Bank. 



"It is beyond any manner of doubt ascertained, that 

 many hundred American craft (chiefly schooners) catch their 

 load of fish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and chiefly on the 

 Orphan Bank, and many close to the Islands of Miscou and 

 Shipagan ; as soon as the Sulf is free of ice, the American 

 craft take their station, so ttiat before the 30th May there 

 are generally several hundreds on the Orphan Bank only, 

 and its vicinity, this year their fishery on these banks has 

 not been very abundant, so that next year more of them 

 might go to the northward than this year. 



"Thus, without their bounds, the Americans load their 

 vessels with fish, to the great prejudice and annoyance of His 

 Britannic Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects ; for the First 

 Article of the Treaty of Commerce, clearly and evidently 

 prescribes their bounds, ' from Cape Ray (Newfoundland) 

 to the Rameau Islands, from said Cape Ray to the Quirpon 

 Islands, or to the shores of the Magdalene Islands, and along 

 the coasts, etc., from Mount Joli, on the southern coast of 

 Labradore, and thro' the Straits of Belle-Isle, and thence 

 Northwardly, indefinitely along its coasts, etc., etc.' Further 

 in the same article of the Treaty, it is said: 'And the United 

 States hereby renounce for ever any liberty heretofore enjoyed 



