1122 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



close to this shore and took two hundred barrels of mackerel. She 

 took six hundred and seventy barrels of mackerel in eight days that 

 trip. She was about one hundred tons burden and carried fifteen or 

 sixteen hands. Her catch was all caught within three miles of the 

 shore. 



3. There must be fully two hundred boats fishing between Mimnigash 

 and Isail Pond, and I should say more. The last three years the num- 

 ber of boats has doubled, and ^more. The boats themselves are of a 

 better quality than they were three years ago. The capital invested in 

 boat fishing has also doubled or trebled during the same time. 



4. The reason there has been such an increase is because people found 

 the fishing to pay. 



5. Each boat, on an average, carries a crew of about three men. A 

 number of shoremen are also employed in connection with the boats. 



6. As a general thing the boats get their codfish from three miles out 

 to a half mile from shore ; the spring codfish are right in handy the 

 shore; the mackerel range from half a mile to three miles off; the 

 greater part of the mackerel are caught about a mile and a half from 

 the shore; in the fall of the year they move off to about three miles; I 

 should say two-thirds of the fish here are caught withiu three miles of 

 the shore ; the ling are caught about two miles and a half to three miles 

 from the shore. 



7. Some years, some of the boats catch over two hundred barrels of 

 mackerel each ; taking one year with another for the past ten years, I 

 would put the average catch of mackerel at fifty b-rrels per boat. I 

 would put the average catch per boat, taking all sizes, of codfish and 

 ling, at about fifty quintal. 



8. When the Americans come here they fish in about from one to 

 three miles from shore. I have seeu them so close that they have run 

 aground. 



9. When there is a fleet of Americans here they hurt the boat-fishing 

 and draw off the fish. Their bait is better than ours, and they throw it 

 and draw away the fish from our boats. While they are here the boats 

 do not do much, as a general thing. The fishermen look upon the ar- 

 rival of the Americans as the break-up of the boat-fishing. 



10. The right of transshipment is a great advantage to the Ameri- 

 cans, because they can unship their fish here and send them home while 

 they themselves can go on with their fishing; they would thus save 

 from three to four weeks a trip ; that would be equal to a trip saved 

 during the summer. Another advantage is that they can send on their 

 fish, even half loads, in time to catch the good markets, which they 

 could not do if obliged to go home with their cargoes, and as the mack- 

 erel is a very variable market this is a very great advantage. 



11. The mackerel season lasts on the shore from the first of July until 

 toward the end of September. The Americans get here about the be- 

 ginning of July. The Americans seine for mackerel along here. 



WM. S. LAEKIN. 



Sworn to at]Nail Pond, Tiguish, Prince County, in Prince Edward 

 Island, thisJ28th day of June, A. D. 1877, before me. 



JOSEPH MACGILVEAT, 



J. P. for Prince County. 



