AWARD CF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1125 



of nine hundred and fifty barrels, fully three fourths of which we caught 

 from one to three miles from the shore ; there was a large number of 

 American vessels in the gulf that season over five hundred ; the catch 

 was very good, some of the vessels taking as many as thirteen hundred 

 barrels. I should say the average catch that season would be over six 

 hundred barrels per vessel. Averaging the ten years between 1860 and 

 1870 that I was engaged in the fishing, I would say that the American 

 fleet would number four hundred sail each year their average catch 

 would be four hundred and fifty barrels per vessel each season, and of 

 this number, without a doubt, two-thirds were caught inshore within 

 the three-mile limits. 



4. Our usual custom in fishing was to sail in close to the shore from one- 

 half to one mile of the shore heave our bait, and drift off, taking the 

 mackerel with us. Time and again when I was fishing in American 

 vessels, we have gone in among the boats fishing near the shore, and, 

 heaving our bait, which was generally superior to that used in the boats, 

 take all the mackerel with us, and the boats would have to wait for 

 another school to come along. 



5. During the year 1868 I was boat fishing out of Souris Harbor. The 

 Americans, when they saw us catching in the boats, made a practice of 

 coming in among us and attracting away the mackerel, which they always 

 succeeded in doing. They would thus draw all the fish away from the 

 boats and the shore, and in some cases it would be a week or more be- 

 fore we would get a catch worth speaking of. This practice is very 

 injurious to the boat fishing. Since the year 1870, 1 have noticed, while 

 engaged in trading iu fish, that the American vessels have continued 

 this practice. 



6. There were as many mackerel caught inside the limits since the 

 Reciprocity Treaty has expired as before. In fact, the expiration of the 

 treaty did not seem to make any difference with regard to the limits. 

 The cutters did not prevent, to any extent, the Americans from fishing 

 within the limits, as they would generally keep a good lookout for the 

 cutters, and when they saw a cutter in the distance would stand off till 

 she had passed, and then commence fishing within the limits again. 



7. From my experience and personal knowledge, I would say that the 

 Americans would not come to the Gulf at all if they could be wholly 

 prevented from fishing within the limits, as fully two-thirds of all the 

 mackerel taken are caught within from one to three miles off shore. 



MARSHAL PAQUET. 



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

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



JAMES R. MACLEAN, 



J. P. for Kings County. 

 No. 26. 

 DOMINION OP CANADA, 



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



I, PETER DEAGLE, of Rollo Bay, iu Kings County, in Prince Edward 

 Island, make oath and say : 



1. That I was personally engaged in the mackerel-fishery from the 

 year 1864 to 1870, in American vessels. 



2. That I commenced fishing in the American schooner Northern 

 Chief iu 1864, and during that year we took nine hundred and ;forty 

 barrels. In 1865 I fished iu the Safronia, from Gloucester, and, that 

 season we caught seven hundred barrels. The next year I was in the 

 S. A. Parkhurst, and we caught six hundred barrels. In 1867 I n'.shed in 



