AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1153 



No. 42. 



I, JOHN G. McNEiLL, of North Rustico, iu Queen's County, in Prince 

 Edward Island, farmer and fisherman, make oath and say: 



1. Thai I have been engaged iu fishing for eighteen years, and that 

 my experience has been in boat-fishing, and I am acquainted with the 

 fishing off this part of the island. 



2. That there are about eighty boats fishing out of North Rustico, 

 without taking into consideration the other parts of Rustico. The 

 number of boats has more than doubled in the last ten years, and is 

 still on the increase. The boats take on an average crews of five men 

 each, beside what men they employ on shore as stage-men. 



3. That the boats on an average catch about one hundred barrels of 

 mackerel each tor the season, and about twenty quintals of codfish and 

 hake each. 



4. That the fish are nearly all caught close to the shore, the best fish- 

 ing ground being a^out one and one-half miles from the shore; in Oc- 

 tober the boats sometimes go off more than three miles from land. 

 Fully two-thirds of the mackerel are caught within three miles from 

 the shore, and all are caught within what is known as the three-mile 

 limit, that is, within a line drawn between two points taken three miles 

 off the North Cape and East Point of this island. 



5. The reasons for the increase iu the number of boats is that people 

 find that the fishing pays, and therefore they go in for it. 



6. Some years there have been five hundred sail of American schoon- 

 ers fishing off this coast. I think the reason the schooners have not 

 been as numerous around this shore within the last few years as they 

 were before is, that they were scared away by the cutters some years 

 ago, and they have been compelled to stop fishing. I believe, from what 

 I know of the American vessels, that they catch on an average about; 

 five hundred barrels of mackerel each. 



7. That the right of transshipment is" valuable to the Americans, be- 

 cause they thereby save about three weeks each trip right in the heart 

 of the fishing season, which, taking the two trips into consideration, 

 would amount to a trip saved in the season. They can refit here more 

 cheaply, I believe, than they can in the United States. They are also 

 thereby enabled to take advantage of the markets ; they can come on 

 shore, find out how the markets are in Boston and other places, and 

 ship away at once in time to catch good markets. That is a great ad- 

 vantage for them. 



8. The 'cod fishing begins here about the tenth of June, and the mack- 

 erel about the beginning of July, and the cod-fishing lasts till about the 

 tenth of November, and the mackerel-fishing till about the twentieth of 

 October, although we have taken mackerel later than that date. 



9. There is pretty much a separate class here going in for fishing. 

 The people now pay more attention to the fishing than formerly ; the 

 boats nre better iu every way than they used to be. 



10. The coming of the Americans is a great injury to the fishing. 

 They come down and lee-bow the boats, taking the fish away. They 

 sometimes drift down on the boats and break the masts out of the 

 boats, doing great injury. The Americans put an end to our good tisli- 

 ing when they come around. I believe one reason for this is the amount 

 of offal which the Americans throw overboard. The blood and offal 

 hurt the fish and sink them to the bottom. Their habit of throwing 

 the offal overboard is very injurious to the fishing. 



11. The Americans for the past two years have not been so numerous 



73 F 



