8 



Complaint of 

 depletion of 

 Manitoba waters 

 in the past. 



that the idea of the domestic license has never K-en carried out at 

 all. In our present recommendations we meet this difficulty by 

 abolishing the commercial and domestic license and by providing 

 for fishing licenses only, apart from the settler's permit for fishing 

 for his own use. 



It has appeared to us necessary to provide for only one type of 

 fishing license, namely, the license to be used by the genuine fisher- 

 man, one license for summer fishing and another license for winter 

 fishing and, instead of the domestic license to be used for food pur- 

 poses, it has appeared to us that the issue of a settler's permit would 

 amply suffice. Under this permit any settler or Indian can fish at 

 any time for his own domestic needs. 



Inasmuch as tugs are absolutely necessary on the lakes, we have 

 provided for a special tug license, which will enable these vessels to 

 do limited fishing, otherwise there was the possibility that steam 

 tugs would not be operated in towing boats of the fishermen, an 

 important accommodation, unless such tugs had some fishing 

 privilege accorded them. As a matter of fact, this commission has 

 abolished the Commercial Company's license altogether, the object 

 being to remove all control by commercial companies or combines, 

 and to place the fisheries, as far as possible, in the hands of the bond 

 fide fishermen. 



In tracing back the history of the Manitoba fisheries there are 

 certain points which have been prominent in all discussions in the 

 past, viz.: the alleged overfishing and excessive destruction, especially 

 of whitefish, and the waste of fish when actually caught, and similar 

 abuses. Under the old regulations a fishing company could use 

 20,000 yards of gill-net and the use of this quantity of gill-net by 

 the fishing companies, it was alleged, led to excessive catches, more 

 than could be conveniently handled. The fishing was carried on over 

 too long a period, late into the fall, so that, when the autumn storms 

 came up, the nets drifted away and vast quantities of fish decayed 

 and were lost. Fishing was also carried on in bays, and, in some 

 cases in the mouths of some of the important rivers, which was, 

 another cause of excessive destruction of fish. There was also a vast 

 destruction of spawning fish. The commercial fishermen made great 

 captures of whitefish actually at the spawning time for the purpose 

 ol securing quantities of eggs for conversion into a kind of bait, 

 used especially in the French sea fisheries, and for purposes of caviar. 

 All these unfavourable conditions tended to intensify the prevalent 

 popular opinion that the Lake Winnipeg fisheries were being grossly 

 abused, and that their total depletion was only a question of a few 

 years if such conditions had continued. These abuses have been very 

 largely, if not altogether, met by the passing of one restrictive regu- 

 lation after another, so that the amount of commercial net to each 

 company was reduced. Reserved limits inshore were defined, and 

 commercial netting excluded therefrom the period of commercial 

 fishing each year was reduced to two months and a half, and a num- 

 ber of other restrictions were instituted which have had a very bene- 

 ficial effect. 



The commission, in reviewing the reports and records of the 

 Manitoba fisheries for over thirty years, has been struck by the con- 

 tinual recurrence of the complaint that the Lake Winnipeg and 

 Manitoba waters were being over-fished, and that the total depletion 

 of the fisheries was threatened. These fears have happily never been 

 realized, and it is a proof of the wonderful productivity of Lake 



