1160 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



they enter, as soon as they can procure bait, which, with other snpplies, 

 they obtain on our coasts, especially at the Strait of Canso. From the 

 25th of June until the last of October they enter our waters to prosecute 

 the mackerel fishery chiefly in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The num- 

 ber of American vessels fishing in our waters for mackerel has ranged 

 in different years from one hundred and fifty to six hundred sail, the 

 number of men in each vessel ranging from ten to eighteen. The prin- 

 cipal places where the Americans fish for mackerel in the summer 

 mouths are all over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, off Pomquet Island, 

 Port Hood, Prince Edward Island, in the Northumberland Straits, off 

 Point Miscou, as far up as the Magdalen Kiver, across to the Seven 

 Islands, off and around Magdalen Islands, and in the fall from East 

 Point and the Magdalen Islands and Island Brion, thence to Gape Saint 

 Lawrence and Port Hood, and around the eastern shore of Cape Breton 

 to Sydney Harbor. The trawling for codfish is done all around our 

 shores from the first of May till the fall. They also carry on the herring 

 fishery and cod and halibut fishery from Anticosti, as far north as Green- 

 land and Labrador, on both shores ; also at B ly of Islands, Bay Saint 

 George, and Fortune Bay, the latter place being visited in the winter 

 Reason. The number of vessels in the herring fishery at the Magdalen 

 Islands alone, ranges from ten to seventy-five sail of American vessels. 



3. The mackerel fleet take from four hundred to eight hundred barrels 

 per vessel each season. The herring fleet would formerly take from six 

 hundred to a thousand barrels in bulk each season, per vessel ; latterly 

 larger vessels are used in this fishery and a larger quantity taken. 



4. The American fishermen carry on their fishery in our waters by 

 the means of seining, trawling, and hooks. 



5. Wherever trawliug is prosecuted it is very destructive to the boat 

 fishery. The Americans also injure our boat fishery or shore fishery by 

 throwing over great quantities of bait. The fishes are also in some 

 cases driven away by the quantity of garbage and offal thrown over- 

 board by American vessels. Great destruction is also done to our fish- 

 eries by the Americans by the practice of seining. 



6. In the prosecution of the mackerel fishery by far the greater por- 

 tion is taken within three miles of the shore, and the mackerel fishing 

 outside the three miles is of little or no value. The herrings are all 

 taken within the harbors and bays of our coasts, and the trawliug for 

 codfish is also done within three miles of the shore. The privilege of 

 coming within the three miles of the shore is of vital importance to the 

 Americans, as all the best mackerel are taken close inshore to the very 

 rocks. The outside fisheries would be of little importance or value to 

 the Americans if they were kept outside the three-mile limit. It is for 

 this reason that they have exposed themselves to so great risks in order 

 to fish within the three miles, as they obtain so large a price for the 

 mackerel caught inside in the fall of the year between Port Hood and 

 Margaree, which used to bring from twenty to thirty dollars per barrel. 



7. The Americans do great injury to our boat fishery by running in 

 and "lee-bowing" the boats and taking away the fish from them into 

 deep water by throwing bait. Their system of trawliug for codfish 

 tends to destroy the mother fish which are lying ou the bottom in a 

 kind of stupid state just before they spawn. 



8. The privilege of landing and drying their seines and nets and 

 curing their fish is of great importance to the American fishermen. 



*J. It is also a valuable privilege to the Americans to be allowed to 

 land and transship, or store their cargoes, by which means they are en- 

 abled to make three or four trips to the Gulf of St. Lawrence it the fish 



