1114 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



10. That the American vessels fished within the limits almost as much 

 after the expiration of the Reciprocity Treaty as before. The treaty 

 did not seem to make any material difference. The cutters did not to 

 any extent prevent the Americans from fishing within the limits, as we 

 could always see them coming, and had time to get outside the limits. 

 Sometimes we merely pulled up our lines and fishing-gear, and as soon 

 as the cutter would pass we would resume our fishing. 



11. From the year 1867 to 1872 I was master of a British fishing- 

 schooner. During these years there would be about four hundred and 

 fifty American vessels in the bay, and their average catch per vessel 

 would be about four hundred and fifty barrels per season. Fully se yen- 

 eighths, in my opinion, of all the mackerel caught in the bay by Amer- 

 icans during the years between 1867 to 1872 would be taken within the 

 three-mile limit. 



12. The American vessels in large numbers would often sail down on 

 the few British vessels fishing in the bay and lee-bow them and by their 

 larger numbers generally succeeded in drawing away the fish from the 

 British vessels. 



13. The right of transshipping is a great benefit to the Americans. 

 They thereby save time enough to make an extra trip, which they could 

 not otherwise make without this right. 



14. That I have also been engaged for several years in the herring- 

 fishery off Labrador in American vessels. There are about two hun- 

 dred and fifty to three hundred American vessels engaged on the coasts 

 of Labrador, Newfoundland, and the Magdalenes in this fishery. These 

 vessels are of a larger build than those engaged in the mackerel-fishery. 

 The average quantity taken from these coasts by these vessels would be 

 about one thousand barrels per vessel per season, making a total of from 

 250,000 to 300,000 barrels per year. A proportion of this quantity is 

 bought from the fishermen along the coasts of Newfoundland. I would 

 say about one-half are bought. All the herring are caught close in- 

 shore, from one-quarter to one-half mile from the shore. 



JOSEPH CAMPBELL. 



Sworn to at Souris, in Kings County, in Prince Edward Island, this 

 twenty-seventh day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. 



JAMES R. MACLEAN, 



J. P. for Kings County. 

 No. 16. 

 DOMINION OF CANADA, 



Province of Prince Edward Island, Kings County, to wit : 



I, ALEXANDER CHIVERIE, of Souris, in Kings County, in Prince Ed- 

 ward Island, formerly fisherman, now merchant, make oath and say : 



1. That I commenced mackerel fishing in the year 1847, in an Amer- 

 ican schooner named the " Triton." In those years there would be from 

 600 to 600 sail in the bay. The schooner I was in was generally in 

 company with 100 to 200 sail. At that time I did not hear anything of 

 the three mile limits. It was not till the year 1852 that I first heard any 

 talk regarding the limits. 



2. The first year I was fishing, we left the American ground in the 

 fall in September, and came to the bay. We fished off the north part 

 of Cape Breton and caught the whole of our fare within three miles 

 from the shore. 



3. The custom generally adopted by the fishermen is to go within a 

 mile of the shore, heave our bait and then drift off, taking the fish with 

 us. 



