29 



BOATS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE PATROL. 



We have in several places in this report referred to the necessity Present patrol 

 of better supervision and the inadequacy of the present patrol, and st JJJJe not 

 of the boats or means for enabling' the officers to make their visits 

 of inspection. We pointed out, on page 6 of our interim report, 

 that with such a boat as the present patrol steamer The Lady of the 

 Lake, the inspector cannot carry out a proper supervision, as the boat 

 is not at all suitable for the special work which it has to do. It is 

 too large a boat; and parties engaged in illegal operations can get 

 ample warning of its approach; while, on account of its build, it 

 cannot safely remain on the lake after the ice begins to form in the 

 late fall. At the present time, we may point out, the patrol steamer 

 i? in Gull harbour, having been frozen in and unable to reach Sel- 

 kirk at the commencement of the winter on account of the forma- 

 tion of ice only a few inches thick at the mouth of the Red river 

 In our opinion, the inspector should have a powerful steamer, low- 

 housed, and so constructed that she could make her way through the necessary ^ 

 thin ice in the Red river, and be able, indeed, to remain on the lake 

 and to be the last boat on the lake at the commencement of winter. 

 If such a boat, powerful and well-ironed, were provided, the patrol 

 work could continue up to the last momenit, the comparatively thin 

 ice in the Red river could be kept broken, and she could carry on 

 the hatchery work, collecting and conveying the eggs most effectively, 

 and be able also to be of assistance to the lighthouse keepers, who, 

 at present, are left 011 the islands late in the fall. It may be claimed 

 that all the steamers on the lake run risks of being kept out by ice, 

 and during the past fall no less than thirteen steamers and tugs had 

 to winter at different points on Lake Winnipeg, and, as we have said, 

 the fishery patrol steamer has had to winter at Gull harbour because 

 she could not get further than the entrance to the Red river early 

 in November, being prevented from getting up the river by the form- 

 ation of thin ice, and she had to return to Gimli on the west shore 

 of the lake, and put off all her shipment of whitefish eggs, so that 

 they had to be sent by rail to the hatchery at Selkirk, otherwise they 

 would all have been lost. Such a steamer as we suggest, well-ironed 

 and constructed, and able to make her way through a few inches of 

 ice and thus keep navigation open, would, at the same time, be far 

 more effective for following up the illegal fishing in the summer 

 time, and would be generally of far more utility to the fisheries, 

 When it is borne in mind that the lake is open in the fall long after 

 ice. is made in the Red river, the importance of such a boat as we 

 have said is apparent. At present, no boats get up the Red river 

 from Lake Winnipeg after the ice is three or four inches thick, but 

 there is no reason why a properly built fishery patrol boat should be 

 unable to reach Selkirk late enough to take the . last supplies of 

 whitefish eggs from the Little Saskatchewan river and other points. 



On the other lakes, such as Wimiipegosis and Manitoba, a small 

 launch, either steam or gasoline, should also be placed for patrol 

 duty during the fall, or spawning season. At present, the officers 

 have no means of making a proper tour of inspection at that import- 

 ant period of the year. 





OBSTRUCTIONS ON RED RIVER AND PE-MB1IU R1VKR. 



St. Andrew's 



Great complaints have been made that the new government locks Rapids locks 

 at St. Andrews rapids have cut off the supply of fish which formerly 



