AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1139 



fishing, and there were a hundred sail of American fishing- vessels getting 

 herring there. They would take on an average eight hundred barrels 

 each ; they ship them away to the West Indies and to other places. 

 The herring there are all caught in the bays and harbors, and are faugh t 

 with seines, which they often drag to shore. That fishery is valuable 

 to the Americans, as they will get large returns for small outlay, and 

 many of their cod fishermen take their bait at the Magdalen Islands. 



16. That I have been getting herring at Newfoundland and have seen 

 large numbers of American vessels fishing there. They fish there al 1 

 winter. They freeze large quantities of the herring caught there for 

 bait for their George's fishing-fleet; in fact, Newfoundland supplies nearly 

 all the bait for their George's fishing. 



17. That in the spring nearly all the mackerel coming here, come by 

 Cape North and through the Gut of Canso, and then they strike the 

 Magdalenes; and the herring come in the same way. From the Magda- 

 leues the herring and mackerel strike up for Bay Chaleurs and for the 

 coasts of this island and for Anticosti, and toward fall both mackerel 

 and herring work back again in the opposite direction. The American 

 fishermen know all about this habit of the fish, and follow them as they 

 swim, and catch them at the different shores. 



18. That I am of opinion that, for some years back, it would not pay 

 the schooners to fit out for the gulf fishing if they were prohibited from 

 fishing within three miles of the shore, that is, for herring and mackerel. 



19. That when the cutters were about they used to frighten off the 

 American schooners to a large extent. I have seen them here and in the 

 Bay Chaleurs have to clear out when the cutter was coming, even when 

 they were getting good fishing. The reason they were not kept off alto- 

 gether was that there were not enough cutters to watch the coast. 



20. That I consider the right to land here, transship, and refit is very 

 valuable to the Americans, as they would save a fortnight each trip, 

 right in the heart of the fishing season, which would amount, in a great 

 many cases, to a trip saved in the season. They are enabled, owing to 

 having the right to transship, to take advantage of favorable prices in 

 the fish-market, which is very fluctuating. Besides that, by transship- 

 ping, they can get their fish into market in better order than if they 

 kept them on board their own vessels. The fish, by being kept in the 

 holds of the vessels, are apt to lose pickle, and rust, and mackerel are 

 fish that need repacking. 



COLIN McKENZIE. 



Sworn,to at French Kiver, in New London, in Prince Edward Island, 

 this 12th day of July, A. D. 1877, before me. 



JOHN SHARPE, 

 Justice of tke Peace. 



No. 35. 



I, ALPHONSO GILMAN, of Malpeque, in Prince County, Prince Edward 

 Island, fisherman, make oath and say : 



1. That I have been following the fishing for about seventeen years in 

 both boats and schooners; that I have been engaged in fishing out of 

 this island about six years, and out of the United States the rest of the 

 time in schooners. 



2. That out of Malpeque Harbor and on the shore there are about fifty 

 boats of all sizes engaged in fishing, and the number has increased con- 

 siderably during the last two years. These boats carry crews on an 

 average of about four men to a boat ; that the boats engaged in cod- 



