1202 AWA.ED OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



So. 84. 



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



of Washington. 



I, CHARLES SMITH, of Luuenburg Town, in the county of Luneiiburg, 

 master mariner, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been engaged in the fisheries for fifteen years. I have fished 

 along the southern coast of Nova Scotia, around Cape Breton, Prince 

 Edward Island, on the eastern side of New Brunswick, around the Mag- 

 dalenes, on the Labrador coast, and am well acquainted with the inshore 

 fisheries in Lunenburg County. I have taken all the kinds of fish found 

 on the above-mentioned coasts. I have also been engaged in Bank 

 fishing. 



2. I have seen at Port Ilood, in the Island of Cape Breton, about 

 seven years ago, over three hundred sail of American mackerel vessels 

 at one time. The last year I was in the North Bay I fished in an Ameri- 

 can vessel, Alice M. Lewis, of Gloucester. We took the most of the 

 mackerel inshore within three miles of the shore. We had on board 

 the said vessel a crew of fifteen hands, and took four hundred and 

 twenty-five barrels of mackerel in one trip, nearly all within three miles 

 of the shore. I have often seen, year after year, upward of one hundred 

 American vessels, at one time in sight, engaged in taking mackerel. 

 By the North Bay I mean the water around Prince Edward Island, 

 eastern side of New Brunswick, northwestern side of Cape Breton, ana 

 the Magdalenes. These vessels took the most of their mackerel inshore, 

 within three miles of the shore. I do not think it would pay Americans 

 to go to the North Bay to fish mackerel, unless they could catch them 

 within three miles of the shore. 



3. The Americans get bait and ice in large quantities at Northwest 

 Bay on the Aspotogou Peninsula, in Lunenburg County. They get the 

 ice in which to pack their bait upon the mountains. This ice they get 

 free. Nearly the whole fleet of Lunenburg Bankers get their fresh 



.bait at the said Northwest Bay. So many Americans getting bait and 

 ice at this place interferes with our vessels. They make the bait scarce 

 and dearer. Without this bait, and ice in which to pack it, the Amer- 

 icans could not carry on successfully the deep-sea fishery. 



4. The Canadian vessels in which 1 fished in the North Bay took 

 codfish with hand-lines. The Americans all trawled, at least all I saw, 

 and I saw many in the said bay. 



5. When on the Labrador coast, in 1871-'2-'3, I saw American vessels 

 engaged in seining codfish on the shore. These vessels were on the Ca- 

 nadian coast of Labrador, and took two thousand quintals of codfish to 

 each schooner. These schooners carried from twenty to twenty-two 

 men each. 



6. When in the American schooner we always fished inshore when 

 we could. We moved away when a cutter appeared, and returned in- 

 shore when she disappeared. 



CHARLES SMITH. 



Sworn to at Lunenburg, in the County of Lunenburg, this 13th day 

 of August, A. D. 1877, before me. 



JOSEPH W. LOCKHART, J. P. 



