AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1157 



places in the States for home consumption. There would be fifty sail 

 of American down there at a time, and they are coming and going the 

 whole time. 



GEORGE McKENZIE. 



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

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



JOHN SBARPE, 

 Justice of the Peace. 



No. 44. 



In the matter of the Fisheries Commission at Halifax, under the Treaty 



of Washington. 



I, PETER PAINT, Sr., of Port Hawkesbury, in the county of Inverness, 

 and Province of Nova Scotia, merchant, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been for the past forty-five years dealing in fish and fishing- 

 supplies, and I am acquainted with the fisheries in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence, but principally with those on the Nova Scotia shores, border- 

 ing on that gulf. I deal in all kinds of dry and pickled fish to the ex- 

 tent of $20,000 per annum. 



2. I estimate that since I have been doing business as aforesaid, the 

 American fishing-fleet in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has ranged from '400 

 to 800 sail each year. I have understood that there have been some 

 years as high as 1,000 sail of mackerelers and cod fishermen. I have 

 known of 150 cod fishing vessels and 600 sail of mackerel catchers in a 

 single season in the gulf. 



3. The catch of mackerel per vessel is between four hundred and 

 five hundred barrels each season, worth about $12 per barrel. The 

 cod fishermen average about one thousand quintals per vessel each sea- 

 son, worth 85 per quintal. 



4. The codfish are caught with hooks, and the mackerel principally 

 with hooks. 



5. I believe that the Americans injure our fishing grounds by throw- 

 ing overboard offal and garbage and that the fish are driven away by 

 this practice. 



6; The Americans have always fished as near the shore, as they could, 

 whether it "was lawful for them to do so or not. The cutters kept them 

 off to some extent between 18G6 and 1871. 



7. The inshore mackerel fishery is, in my opinion, more valuable than 

 that outside. The herring fishery is carried on inshore altogether. I 

 am of opinion that more than half the mackerel are caught inshore. 



8. The American fishermen of late years are attempting to use seines 

 in catching the mackerel in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 1 consider this 

 practice very injurious to the mackerel fishery, as it tends to break up 

 the schools and drive away the fish. 



9. I am not aware that the fish frequenting Canadian waters have in- 

 creased or decreased to any great extent since the Treaty of Washing- 

 ton. The mackerel were somewhat scarce in 1875 and 1876, but I have 

 known them to be just as scarce several times since I have been doing 

 business here, and they always came in plenty again in a year or two. 

 The mackerel are coming in in large numbers this year, and there is 

 every prospect of a good catch, I believe. 



10. I believe that the Americans handle and dress their mackerel 

 better than our fishermen do, and for that reason they sometimes ob- 

 tain a higher price for them in the American market. 



