Cedar Lake 

 sturgeon fishery. 



Summer fishing 

 stopped on 

 Lake Manitoba, 

 1905. 



Summer fishing 

 stopped on 

 Lake Winnipegosis, 

 1906. 



Waste of fish in 

 summer fishing. 



Requests to re-open 

 summer fishing on 

 Lake Winnipegosis. 



of depletion the licenses were confined to actual settlers, and a maxi- 

 mum number of 100 licenses was fixed by the department. This 

 action prevented a number of the fishermen from the east coming on 

 to the lake. One fishery carried on in these waters or, rather, in the 

 waters of Cedar lake, was the sturgeon fishery, a great many of these 

 valuable fish being shipped from the north via Lake Winnipegosis. 

 At this time there were two companies operating on the lake which, 

 se was generally recognized, were under the control of large United 

 States firms. These companies carried on their own fishing opera- 

 tions during the summer, but in the winter the fishing was carried 

 en chiefly by the settlers and by fishermen who sold their catches to 

 the companies. Strong representations were made, that, in order to 

 preserve these lakes (Lakes Winnipegosis, Manitoba, &c.) and to 

 benefit the local population, the summer operations should be either 

 still more curtailed or should be stopped altogether. On March 13, 

 1905, an order in council was passed prohibiting summer fishing 

 altogether on Lake Manitoba, so that no summer operations could 

 be carried on from April 1 to November 30 in each year. Similar 

 action was taken next year in regard to Lake Winnipegosis, and, on 

 March 28, 1906, an order in council was passed closing Lake Winni- 

 pegosis, Lake Dauphin and tributaries, from April 1 to November 

 30 in each year, thus entirely doing away with summer fishing 

 operations on these lakes. The main ground for the action taken 

 was that, in the view of the department, the benefit of summer fish- 

 ing to the local population was small as compared with the great 

 benefit resulting from winter fishing, as, in addition to the earnings 

 from the actual fishermen, there was considerable benefit to the 

 farmers teaming the fish, and much money circulated in supplies; 

 while, in addition better prices were obtained by the fishermen for 

 their winter-caught fish than for summer-caught fish. Indeed, it was 

 stated to the department that the difference in price received by 

 fishermen in winter was considerable, being, 4c. to 5c. per pound, 

 whereas the price for fish caught in summer was 2c. per pound or 

 even less. Moreover, it was asserted that 25 per cent of the summer- 

 caught fish were lost owing to storms which prevented the overhauling 

 legularly of the nets, and the fish being left in the meshes died and 

 polluted the lakes. In order to afford greater protection to fishermen 

 on the lake, and to further the interests of the residents, the Indians, 

 half-breeds, &c., living aroundi the lakes, it was regarded as wise and 

 necessary to maintain the summer fishing prohibition referred to, 

 although actual settlers were still permitted to fish for food for their 

 own use but not for sale. 



During the sittings of the commission, strong representations 

 were made on several occasions urging that Lakes Winnipegosis and 

 Manitoba be re-opened for summer fishing operations, but in our 

 interim report, we, as a commission, decided that it was desirable 

 to continue the prohibition with a view to restoring the abundance 

 of whitefish and pickerel; and it is interesting to note that a num- 

 ber of the prominent parties who urged the removal of the summer 

 prohibition, have since commended the commission for their decision 

 to maintain the closure of summer fishing on these two lakes. 



METHOD OF FISHING. 



It is desirable to briefly state some of the features in the 

 methods of taking fish in the waters of Manitoba. Whereas in more 



