20 



FALL FISHING. 



Grounds for not In our special interim report, dated at Winnipeg, July 12, 1910, 



SufidSSg Cl lITo f and forwarded to Ottawa at that time, we recommended that the 

 prohibitoii of fall fishing be not enforced pending the presentation of 

 the final report of the commission, in which this matter of fall fish- 

 ing would be dealt with on the basis of the further investigations 

 carried on by us. We pointed out, in the report mentioned, that 

 ampfle notice had not been given of the change in the regulations; 

 that if the fall fishing were suddenly closed down without ample notice, 

 financial loss would be incurred by a deserving class of local fisher- 

 men; that the necessary gear was prepared ready for use; that sup- 

 plies of wood had been cut, and ice had been put up as in former 

 years; and that all these preparations had been made in the belief 

 that, if any prohibition of fall fishing were contemplated, it would 

 not be enforced suddenly or without sufficient notice. The recom- 

 mendation made by us, that the prohibition be in the meantime post- 

 poned, was adopted by the Hon. the Minister of Marine and Fish- 

 eries, and the prohibition was not enforced during the fall of 1910. 

 In view of the strong representations made and petitions laid before 

 the commission from actual settlers living along the shores of the 

 south end of Lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, and in view of the 

 fact that the said settlers had been located for the past 25 years on 

 their homesteads along the shore, principally on account of the fish- 

 ing which they carried on in a small way for the purpose of aiding 

 in enabling them to make a living, we regard their case as one 

 deserving special consideration. The fishing which they have car- 

 ried on has been only a limited one, conducted during a part of the 

 fall when they secured small quantities of pickerel, jackfish and 

 coarse fish, these fish being put on the market in a fresh condition; 

 and, were the fishery entirely stopped, there would actually be no 

 fresh fish available for the markets of the province, excepting fish 

 from other provinces. In all the other provinces of the Dominion 

 there is a considerable fall fishery, and supplies of fresh fish reach 

 the markets of these provinces, and we think it desirable that such 

 a source of fresh fish for the Manitoba markets should not be closed 

 down entirely by a prohibition in the fall. We have above referred 

 to the fact that, along the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, at the south 

 end, the local settlers have, in recent years shown considerable enter- 

 prise by building smal icehouses and freezers for the special purpose 

 of receiving the catches of fish made in the fall. These icehouses, 

 15 in number, tog-ether with 14 freezers, are owned solely by Ice- 

 landers, and are valued at nearly $17,000; they are located at various 

 points from Big Island to Winnipeg Beach, especially at Gimli, at 

 Nes and at Arnes. Attention was called to the hardship and finan- 

 cial loss which would follow on account of the freezers and ice- 

 houses owned by the settlers being put out of operation, if fall fish- 

 ing was entirely stopped, and at a meeting of the council of the 

 municipality of Bjfrost, May 26, 1910, resolutions were passed laying- 

 stress upon this important consideration, and the resolution was for- 

 warded to the department at the time. Other representations have 

 followed, the last being a, series of resolutions passed at a meeting- 

 held! at Nes last January, when fishermen from Nes, Arnes and 

 Hnausa were present, and they expressed the view that the pickerel 

 and coarse fish were increasing in the south part of Lake Winni- 

 peg, and that it would be a great hardship for them were they pre- 



