1240 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



6. The American codfishermen come into our bays and harbors and 

 get bait and ice without which they could not fish ; then go out and 

 trawl to the bottom. This deep trawling is very bad, as they catch the 

 mother fish which are full of spawn. In deep trawling only the large 

 fish bite. 



7. Herring are taken all inshore ; also mackerel, and great quantities 

 of codfish and halibut. 



8. The Americans heave their " gurry " overboard. This I have fre- 

 quently seen them do, and I consider this bad for the fishing-grounds. 



9. Around the southern and eastern coasts of Cape Breton there are 

 as many American vessels engaged in taking codfish and halibut as in 

 the taking of mackerel, and they take from eight to ten hundred quin- 

 tals of codfish each. 



10. The halibut they pack in ice which they can get in Sydney and 

 Louisburg, and ice which they to some extent bring with them. 



11. Squids and caplin have set in very plentifully this year, and the 

 fish always follow them ; and mackerel are expected to be very plenty 

 this fall. 



12. I was at St. Ann's, in the county of Victoria, a week ago, and saw 

 many mackerel schools and herring schools, and the people all said it 

 was a very plentiful year for mackerel. 



bis 



JOHN + MUKPHY. 



mark. 



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

 July, A. D. 1877, before me. 



WALTER YOUNG, J. P. 



No. 121. 



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



of Washington. 



I, ANGUS MATHESON, of South Sydney, in the county of Cape Breton, 

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



1. About twelve years ago 1 fished for two seasons in company and 

 in American fishing- vessels. These vessels came from Gloucester, and 

 were engaged in mackerel-fishing. I fished around the eastern coast of 

 Cape Breton, and eastern part of Prince Edward Island, and the Mag- 

 dalen Islands. Since then I have been engaged more or less in the in- 

 shore fisheries this summer, from the twenty-sixth of April till the mid- 

 dle of July. I hove oif Low Point light-house, in the county of Cape 

 Breton, in boats, fished codfish, haddock, halibut, and herring. 



2. During the past twelve years I have seen many American fishing- 

 vessels fishing mackerel near shore. They fished inshore sometimes 

 close to the shore, because the mackerel come inshore, and I have fished 

 hundreds of barrels of mackerel, and have never yet taken them more 

 than three-quarters of a mile from the shore ; and I have caught them 

 in Sydney Harbor until the bottom of the boat touched the ground. 

 The Americans always come inshore for the mackerel, and when they 

 did not fish them inshore they baited them off to beyond the three miles, 

 and most any kind of fish can be baited off in this way. 



3. I have seen within the past twelve years over two hundred fishing 

 near Low Point. Each season, from Scatarie all round the shore up to 

 Cape North, there are hundreds of these American fishing-vessels, and 

 they fish here from year to year, and at the present time. 



