27 



have had strong views placed before us in favour of the small meshed 

 net, 3f-inch, foi' tullibee, on the ground that tullibee cannot be taken 

 in quantities in a larger mesh net, and that they form an important 

 part of the feed for dogs, also the Indians and half-breeds have de- 

 pended on supplies of tullibee for food during the summer, and that 

 it would be quite a hardship if they were not allowed to take them 

 with the appropriate mesh of net for their own use, and the net to be 

 of short length, not more than fifty fathoms. In the interests of the 

 fisheries as a whole, we have not recommended any mesh less than 4 

 inches in the lake, and we adhere to this recommendation because we 

 think it is in the interests of the fisheries in general. The tullibee 

 is a peculiar fish, and a word or two descriptive of it may be appro- 

 priate. It is a representative western fish, not characteristic of the 

 eastern waters, and belongs to the whitefish family. It may be cor- 

 rectly described as a lesser whitefish, but it is altogether inferior to 

 the recognized whitefish, or even the true fresh-water herrings, such 

 as the gold eye, which as we have stated, is dn increasing demand 

 as a smoked fish on the markets. Tullibee have been said to occur 

 only along the north shore of Lake Superior in the east, but they are 

 certainly very abund'ant in Manitoba waters and certain lakes in the 

 Northwest. 



ISSUE OF LICENSES. 



We have expressed ourselves very strongly in the interim, report Cumbersome 

 on the laxity in the enforcement of the regulations, and pointed out issue, 

 to what causes this laxity was due. But, apart from the question of 

 insufficient supervision and control of fishery operations, there is one 

 point of considerable importance respecting the matter of issuing 

 (licenses which we think has had a good deal to do with the laxity 

 011 the part of the fishermen and the fishing firms in the observance 

 of the regulations. The method of issuing licenses requires to be 

 greatly improved. We find that it is the rule for all licenses to be 

 made out and issued by the department in Ottawa. The method is 

 as follows : Applications are sent in by the fishermen to the Inspec- 

 tor of Fisheries in the province, who enters them on official forms and 

 forwards them to Ottawa with his remarks and recommendations and 

 with the requisite fee. For effective supervision of the fishing opera- 

 tions, the license should be issued immediately, so that it may be in j ssue before 

 the hands of the fisherman before he begins to fish. But this we find fishermen begin 

 is never done, and, under the present cumbersome and roundabout oper 

 system, the fishermen, as a rule, goes to the fishing grounds, carries 

 on his fishing operations for several months, and, on his return from 

 the fishing grounds may then possibly receive his license, though 

 we have found that as long a period as five or six months may elapse 

 after the fishing is all over, before his license reaches him, Thus, 

 his license which is his authority for commencing to fish and for 

 carrying on fishery operations, is never in his possession until long 

 after the fishing is completed. This grossly lax method has a ten- 

 dency to render the license, and the conditions attached to it, unim- 



. . i / i TT J.T n -i ' i Laxity m issue of 



portant the eyes of the fisherman. He goes to the nsning-grouna license leads to 



before he has received his license, and not knowing whether he will neglect of 

 receive a license at aill. He has no means of becoming acquainted regu 

 with the fishery regulations which are printed on the back of the 

 license, and there is no doubt that a large number of the fishermen 

 never see the conditions of the license until long after the fishing' is 

 started. The present system calls for a rad'ical change, but, in 



