AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1237 



is of great hurt to the fishing ground ; this our inshore fishermen never 

 make a practice of. 



11. In Cow Bay, last season, the amount of codfish taken, to the best 

 of my knowledge, would amount to a thousand quintals. I have known 

 a great many more some seasons. Some seasons it is better, some worse. 

 The amount of herring taken last spring in this bay was about six hun- 

 dred barrels. The amount of mackerel taken last summer was from 

 three to four hundred barrels. These numbers vary, being some years 

 much better. 



12. Herring are taken all inshore, and also mackerel. 



13. Off this bay I have known a boat's crew of three men to catch 

 from fifty to sixty halibut in one day, about fifteen years ago. These 

 halibut measured from three to seven feet each. At the present time 

 this fishery has almost failed, and this I attribute solely to American 

 trawlers, and I believe if the Americans were stopped from trawling we 

 would have the halibut as plenty again. 



14. If the Americans were shut off our coast from our fisheries, I be- 

 lieve they would in the course of time be as good as ever. 



JOHN PEACH. 



Sworn to at Cow Bay, in the county of Cape Breton, this 24th day of 

 July, A. D. 1877, before ine. 



JOSEPH McPHEPvSON, 

 J. P. for and in the County of Cape Breton. 



118. 



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



of Washington. 



I, JAMES FRASER, of South Bar, in the county of Cape Breton, in the 

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



1. I have b*een master mariner for twenty-eight years, and am well 

 acquainted with the coasts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, east- 

 tern side of New Brunswick, Lower St. Lawrence, and Newfoundland, 

 and am well acquainted with all the bays and harbors on those coasts, 

 and was acquainted during that period with the fishing on those coasts, 

 and saw large numbers of American fishing- vessels engaged in fishing 

 inshore and offshore, and laying at anchor in our bays and harbors. 

 During the last twelve years I have been engaged in the inshore fish- 

 eries, and as a trader, and have frequently supplied American fishing- 

 vessels with ice and bait. 



2. I have seen in one summer upwards of two thousand American 

 fishing- vessels on the coasts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the 

 eastern coast of New Brunswick, and the coast of Newfoundland, en- 

 gaged in taking the various kinds of fish found in the waters around 

 those coasts. This number varied, being some years greater and some 

 less. This I have seen year after year down till 1865, when I discon- 

 tinued the coasting trade. 



3. During the past twelve years I have supplied frequently Ameri- 

 can fishing-vessels with ice and bait. 



4. During the past six years I think on an average fifty sail have been 

 supplied with ice and bait in Sydney Harbor, and I do not think the 

 trawl-fishing could be carried on without ice and fresh bait profitably. 



5. The inshore fishery is of more value in my opinion than the out- 



