19 



round of whitefish shall be taken. As soon as such quantity is 

 caught, the inspector of fisheries shall order all nets to be taken out 

 of the water.' 



With respect to the closing of Lake Winnipeg, we feel bound Danger of 

 at once to call attention to the important fact, that evidence of the depletion of 

 decline of the fishery resources of Lake Winnipeg to the serious extent Lake Winnipeg, 

 generally alleged has not been amply borne out by our subsequent commSfon^ tests, 

 investigations; but that, in spite of the excessive fishing, or over- 

 fishing, as has been alleged, the supply of whitefish in Lake Winni- 

 peg is still enormous and gives no sufficient ground for serious fear 

 as to the future. The sub-committee which visited the fishing ground 

 after the end of the summer fishing operations, and personally tested 

 special localities which had been abandoned because of the supposed 

 total depletion of fish, found evidence by setting nets that the deple- 

 tion was far less serious than had been alleged, and that the means 

 taken for thoroughly investigating the state of these grounds estab- 

 lished this remarkable result, that the fears anticipated by many were 

 not realized and that the areas referred to did not show signs of the 

 danger of immediate exhaustion. It is true that the size of the fish 

 appeared to have decreased somewhat, but the quantity of whitefish 

 abounding in these areas had not decreased to the extent that had 

 been commonly claimed'. We do not think, therefore, that, in view Not necessary to 



of this evidence, and in view of the facts ascertained, the con- carry out closure of 



. , . i j n i -I i summer fishing on 



tmuaiice ol the prohibition of summer nshing is justifiable; and L Winnipeg. 



we strongly recommend, therefore, that the first part of sub-section 

 9 of section 12 of the order in council of April 18, 1910, be rescinded. 

 To close down summer fishing operations in any case would be a 

 most serious step and have far-reaching consequences on the indus- 

 tries of the province. And this important fact must be borne in . 

 mind, that Lake Winnipeg is the only source of supply for fresh summer important 

 \vhitefish 011 which the western Canadian and other markets in the for the province. 

 Dominion can depend, and the closing down of summer fishing 

 would therefore deprive a large part of our population of any supply 

 of fresh whitefish during the summer season. The summer fishing 

 is carried on in a part of this great lake, the shores of which are 

 almost entirely without population and not likely to be settled for a g hores not 

 considerable time on account of the special nature of the country populated where 

 and its not being adapted for agricultural purposes. The somewhat 

 satisfactory signs which our further investigations have shown as 

 to the state of the fish supply in the northern portion of Lake Win- 

 nipeg, would not justify, in our opinion, the industrial dislocation to 

 vrhich we refer, viz. : the stoppage of an important fishery enterprise, 

 ?nd the cutting off of a valued and necessary supply of fresh fish 

 for our own local needs in the west and for eastern markets. An 

 additional safeguard against any dianger of depletion was provided 

 by the limit of the total summer catch, which was placed at 2,400,000 

 pounds last season. Considerable dissatisfaction arose from the fact Lj m j t O f 2,500,000 

 that in the order in council the expression c In the round ' was used, Ibs. of whitefish 

 which, of course, considerably reduced the total amount of fish, and ^Winnipeg!* 

 the proportions which by arrangement each company was prepared to 

 handle. From the information which has been placed before us there 

 is strong reason to believe that the limit of 2,400,000 pounds was not 

 originally intended to refer to ' round 7 -fish, but to 'dressed' fish, 

 and our recommendation would, therefore, be, that a maximum limit 

 of the summer catch be provided, but that it be placed at 2,500,000 

 pounds of whitefish in a dressed condition. 

 14522 2 



