AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1207 



wick, around Prince Edward Island, the Magdalenes, and on the Libra- 

 dor coast, and am well acquainted with the inshore fishery in Luneuburg 

 County. 



2. I have fished mackerel and codfish. In fishing mackerel we took 

 them mostly inshore, and it would not have paid us to have gone unless 

 we could take them inshore. 



3. I have fished for twenty-five years in succession on the Labrador 

 coast, and got codfish close inshore. We got all our codfish close inshore 

 within three miles. I have during the s?id time seen a number of 

 American vessels taking codfish inshore on the Labrador coast, and this 

 I have seen every year for the past twenty -five years. I hav-3 also, 

 during the said time, seen many Americans catching herring inshore on 

 the Labrador coast. So many Americans diminish the catch for Cana- 

 dian vessels. 



4. The Americans get bait, and ice in which to preserve it, all along 

 our coast; and, in my experience, codfish cannot be taken without fresh 

 bait. 



5. In my opinion, it would be a great benefit to Canadian fishermen 

 if Americans were excluded from our inshore fisheries. 



DAN KISSER. 



Sworn to at Rose Bay, in the county of Luneuburg, this 8th day of 

 August, A. D. 1877, before me. 



JAMES H. WENTZEL, J. P. 



No. 90. 



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



of Washington. 



I, JAMES W. SPEARWATER, of New Dublin, in the county of Lunen- 

 burg, fisherman, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been engaged in the fisheries for the past two years, and 

 have fished on the eastern and northeastern side of Cape Breton, on t!ie 

 Western Banks, and on Bank Quaero, on the southern side of Cape 

 Breton. I fished codfish. 



2. I left here this year on the tenth of April, and last year about the 

 same time. The vessel in which I went last year carried sixteen hands, 

 and was fitted out to take fourteen hundred quintals. The vessel in 

 which I sailed this year was fitted out to take eighteen hundred quin- 

 tals. We' took six hundred quintals, and were out about four mouths. 



3. I have often seen many American vessels there engaged in taking 

 codfish. The American vessels on the Banks take the greater part f 

 their fish by trawling. Trawling is carried on to the bottom, and mother 

 fish are taken. 



4. This year the vessel in which I was, and which is owned here, pro- 

 cured her bait at Eastern Passage, in Halifax County ; at Cape George, 

 in the county of Halifax ; at Cape George in the county of Autigonish ; 

 at St. Ann's and Aspy Bay in Cape Breton. While at these places I 

 saw American vessels getting bait and ice the same as our own vessels ; 

 herring and mackerel we bought; squid we mostly jigged. Without 

 this bait and ice it would be impossible for the Americans or for us to 

 carry on the Bank fishing. The Americans also got ice at these places to 

 preserve their bait. The Americans get bait when it is scarce, and their 

 getting bait interferes with our baiting. 



JAMES W. SPEARWATER. 



