172 



FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



no conditions could success be assured, neither from accident 

 nor from any other cause, and I hesitated to incur the risk of 

 another mishap. Fortunately the operations of the Fishery 

 Act were such as to give every hope of the rivers soon be- 

 coming well stocked with salmon. The purpose I had in view 

 in drafting the Fishery Act, was, by careful legislation and 

 by strenuously carrying out the provisions of the law, to 

 restore the salmon fisheries and to bring about order where 

 chaos reigned supreme. 



. t ' The reports that I had received from the overseers and 

 others were very favorable, one of them, in 1861, wrote me as 

 follows : 



'Knowing that your best endeavors are used to increase 

 the fishing in various rivers, I am happy to inform you that 

 the salmon fishing in my district (the Mingan division) has 

 been splendid, especially in the St. John and the Magpie, and 

 exceeds anything that had taken place in these rivers within 

 the recollection of the ol'dest fisherman, and the people are 

 inclined to think that the abundance is the good effect of the 

 fishery laws, which prohibits the capture of the salmon on 

 their spawning beds, while the fishermen begin to perceive 

 with gratitude that the law was made for their benefit. ' 



"Sir Edmund Head, who had given much attention to the 

 subject of the protection of the fish- 

 eries both in New-Brunswick and in 

 Canada, a short time before he left 

 Quebec, said : We have fished the 

 Mingan this season, and T am glad 

 to say you have affected a great 

 change in the salmon river; the fish 

 are in abundance ' ; while Dr. Adam 

 son, the primus of amateur fiy fisher- 

 men on his return from the Godbout, 

 in 1862, exclaimed, 'Nettle, the rivers 

 are full of fish and the salmon fry are 

 in myriads. ' The river Moisie that in Rev - Dr - Adamson. 



1859 had only yielded some 300 barrels of salmon, in 1862 

 gave a return of 800 barrels. Reports from other rivers were 



