1118 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



fishermen. When they land their catch of fish they can at once fit-out 

 again and be on the grounds again without the loss of time they would 

 incur by being compelled to go home with their loads. They thus save 

 from two to three weeks in the trip, and that in the very best of the 

 fishing. That would amount to a trip saved in the course of the sum- 

 mer. They are thus enabled also to watch the fluctuations of the mar- 

 kets, the mackerel market being a very variable one, and a few days 

 often making a very great difference in that market. 



10. The boat fishermen always rave when they see the Americans 

 come here in numbers, and look upon their arrival as a great loss to 

 themselves. 



EDWAED HACKETT. 



Sworn to at Tignish, in Prince County, Prince Edward Island, this 

 27th day of June, A. D. 1877. before me. 



JOSEPH MACGILVEAY, 



J. P, for Prince County. 

 No. 19, 



I, MAURICE O'CONNOR, of Kildare Cape, in Prince County, Prince 

 Edward Island, fisherman, make oath and say; 



1. That I have been engaged in the fishery as a business for the last 

 eight years^ before that I had been fishing tor about two years. I have 

 fished in boats out of Kildare, Nail Pond, and Eustico in this island. 



2. There are about forty boats fishing off this shore, this side of any 

 harbor. These are mostly smaller boats than those that fish out of the 

 harbors. They are made small so that they can be easily beached in 

 case of a storm or any other necessity, there being no place of refuge 

 for them on the shore. They are mostly owned by farmers, who want 

 to haul them up often. The number has trebled within the last ten 

 years, and the boats themselves are far better. There is more than 

 twelve times the capital invested in the business on the shore now that 

 there was ten years ago. These boats carry on an average a crew of 

 about three men each. 



3. The Americans used to fish off this shore in large numbers. I have 

 6een hundreds of them fishing right inshore among the boats. They 

 stretched right up the shore from this cape as far as one could see. 



4. The Americans sometimes run in among the boats and hurt them. 

 If they see the boats getting fish they run in and " lee-bow" the first 

 thing, throwing bait and taking the fish away. Unless there is a very 

 large body of mackerel where they are fishing, the boats have no chance. 



5. The Americans prefer the shore fishing. They fish close in when the 

 wind is oft' shore, drifting oil* and taking the fish with them. They throw 

 very much pogie and clam bait, which enabled them to take off the 

 mackerel. I do not think they would come down here to fish if not al- 

 lowed within three miles of the shore. The boat fishermen always look 

 upon the arrival of the American fishermen as a great injury to the boat 

 fishing. The Americans throw so much bait that the mackerel get 

 gorged and will not bite, but go off, the Americans following them. 



7. The cutters kept the Americans off the shore a good deal, but they 

 used always try to steal in again. They used to come in then and drift 

 off. When a cutter was anywhere near, the Americans kept off; that 

 was a great advantage to the boatmen, as they then had all the shore 

 fishing to themselves. 



8. The best fishing-ground for mackerel is near shore, within three 

 miles of it. 



9. One reason for the increase of the number of boats is that the popu- 

 lation is increasing and there are plenty of young men about who want 



