1242 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



United States of America, but now of Port Hood, in the county of Inver- 

 ness, fisherman, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been engaged in the fishing vessels fitted out by the Ameri- 

 cans for the past five years, and have been engaged during that time in 

 fishing in all parts of the gulf, on the coast of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton 

 and P. E. Island and on the shores of the Magdalen Island. 



2. A large number of American vessels have been engaged in fishing 

 in these waters for some years past, taking chiefly mackerel and codfish. 

 The average cargo of an American vessel is about 450 barrels of mack- 

 erel during one trip, though I have known some vessels to take a much 

 larger number. The average cargo of codfish is from 600 to 1,000 quin- 

 tals per trip. On an average these vessels make two or three trips per 

 season. 



3. The American fishermen are in the habit of throwing offal over- 

 board while they are fishing on the coast, and this practice has been in- 

 jurious to the fishing grounds, and glutted the fish in the neighborhood, 

 and it is found necessary to move away after a while from the places 

 where the offal has been thrown. 



4. American fishing vessels are sometimes accustomed to use the purse 

 seines in fishing for mackerel, and the effect of this I consider very in- 

 jurious to the fishing grounds. I have known our fishermen to take as 

 many as a thousand barrels of mackerel in one haul, and they cannot 

 cure all these, and consequently have to let a good portion of them 

 go adrift, and many of the fish are killed. This practice must do serious 

 damage. 



5. Mackerel chiefly feed and breed inshore. They have to go in- 

 shore for food, because the smaller fish on which they feed live wholly 

 or chiefly in shoal water. 



6. Very large quantities of mackerel are taken by our fishermen in- 

 shore on Canadian fishing grounds, but I cannot say what proportion of 

 the whole catch. In September and October a large part of the mack- 

 erel fishing is done inshore. 



7. The present system of trawling practiced by the American fisher- 

 men in cod-fishing is most dangerous to Canadian fishing grounds. It 

 destroys the mother-fish, and being followed up the whole season it 

 takes fish during the spawning season. Being anxious to get cargoes 

 of large fish the Americans throw the small fish overboard. I believe if 

 this trawling system is pursued much longer, it will very greatly dam- 

 age the Canadian fishing grounds, if not ruin them. 



8. It is a very great advantage to American fishermen to be able to 

 procure bait and ice in Canadian ports along the coast, and to catch it 

 near the shore. It is considered by the Americans more advantageous 

 to buy the bait for the cod-fishery than to catch it themselves. If the 

 American fishing vessels could not procure bait on the Canadian shores, 

 they would almost ha veto abandon the cod-fishery. Bait will only last 

 about three weeks in ice, and if the Americans could not get the ice here 

 we could only preserve our bait by salting it, which injures it. It would 

 be impossible for us to carry on the cod-fishery profitably if we had to 

 return to American waters and ports to procure all our bait. 



WM. H. SWEET. 



Sworn to at Port Hood, in the county of Inverness, this 20th day of 

 July, A. D. 1877, before me. 



D. CAMPBELL, J. P. 



