1146 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



each ; some take from one hundred to one thousand quintals of codfish. 

 This amount they take each trip. They get them around the shore, ou 

 Grand Bank, and wherever they can. The mackerel men make two 

 trips, and those catching codfish make an average of at least two trips, 

 some making three trips. 



4. I have been well acquainted, during the past 20 years, with the 

 amount of fish taken by vessels around this locality, and have found 

 that the amount varies, being sometimes good for two or three years, 

 poor for two or three years, and again good for another two or three ; 

 they have been rather poor for the last two or three years. This year 

 the mackerel have been reported plenty east of Cape Breton, and will 

 probably be plenty again for a number of years. 



5. The fishing is mostly done with hooks and trawls, the Americans 

 trawling in deeper water than Canadian fishermen. 



6. The American heavy trawling destroys the mother fish. They 

 catch the larger fish, and often throw over any small ones taken, thus 

 injuring the fisheries. 



7. During and before the Eeciprocity Treaty of eighteen hundred and 

 fifty-four the American fishermen fished close to the shore, following the 

 fish close in and wherever they could take them. Since the Treaty of 

 Washington, they come along the shore, fish close in, within three miles 

 of the coast. When our armed vessels come, they leave; and when the 

 armed vessels go away, they return. 



8. The inshore fishing is, in my opinion, of more value than the fishing 

 outside, as the fish make in towards the shore, and if the Americans 

 could not come in and get bait, and ice to keep their bait, the outside 

 fishing would be of no benefit to them whatever, the privilege of fishing 

 and purchasing bait, purchasing ice and supplies being invaluable. 



9. The American fishermen use seines in deep water and also on the 

 shore, and Canadian fishermen complain that by these seines they take 

 great quantities before they can get inshore, and break up the schools 

 of fish. 



10. The Americans get all their bait within three miles of the shore, 

 in the bays, creeks, and harbors, by fishing for it with hook and line, 

 and with nets. They also purchase large quantities, because, they say, 

 it is more convenient to do so at times. 



11. The American fishermen, to my knowledge, take codfish and had- 

 dock inshore by trawling and hooking them, and Canadians in the same 

 way. 



12. Almost all herring fishing is done inshore, and the Americans 

 catch them for bait, and they often sell herring thus caught. This I 

 know well, having purchased herring from them all along the coast. 



13. The Americans catch very large quantities of mackerel, and I 

 have often heard American masters say that our mackerel is much 

 superior to that caught in American waters, being larger and fatter. 



14. I have been informed by American fishermen that the mackerel 

 feed inshore and places where the water is shoal, and I have known 

 American vessels catch a cargo of over 300 barrels of mackerel in a 

 week within five miles of this harbor, and I know of no reason why it 

 may not be done again within the next eight years. The right of trans- 

 shipping at such a time would be of great value, as also the right to 

 land and dry their nets. 



15. The right of taking bait in our bays, creeks, and harbors is, in 

 my opinion, invaluable, for without this privilege they would be unable 

 to prosecute the fisheries. 



16. American fishermen purchase bait at times, because, they say, 



