AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 1243 



NO. 123. 



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



of Washington. 



I, JAMES ARCHIBALD, of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, 

 United States of America, at present of Port Hood, in the county of 

 Inverness, fisherman, make oath and say as follows : 



1. I have been engaged in the fishing business for twenty years past, 

 and during seven years past I have been fishing in American vessels, 

 in American and Canadian waters. I have been engaged in various 

 kinds of fishing on the coasts of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, in the 

 gulf, and about the Magdalen Islands, and P. E. Island. I came into 

 this port in an American fishing vessel, and have been engaged in fish- 

 ing here during the present season. 



2. Since I have been fishing in these parts, I have known of a large 

 number of American fishing vessels frequenting these coasts, chiefly 

 engaged in taking codfish and mackerel. Each vessel carries about 

 450 barrels of mackerel at a cargo, and makes two or three trips during 

 the season. The average cargo of codfish is from GOO to 1,000 quintals 

 each vessel. The vessels average about 60 or 70 tons, and I have known 

 some vessels to take larger cargoes. 



3. I know that our fishermen are in the habit of throwing offal over- 

 board after catching the fish, and I think this must be injurious to the 

 fishing-ground, and' the vessels have to move away from the places 

 where they throw over the offal every little while. 



4. I have known American fishing vessels to use the purse-seines in 

 fishing mackerel quite often, and I know it must do great injury to the 

 fishing-grounds. They make such large hauls in these seines that they 

 cannot cure all the fish unless they have other vessels near, and so they 

 have to send many fish adrift, and some are killed in the operation. 

 This practice will do great harm to the grounds. 



5. Very large quantities of mackerel are taken by our fishermen now 

 inshore, but I would not like to say what proportion of the whole mack- 

 erel catch. Late in the autumn a great deal of the fishing is done in- 

 shore. According to the best of my knowledge and experience mackerel 

 breed and feed for the most part inshore. They feed on smaller fish 

 which are found almost entirely in shoal water. 



6. The system of trawling for codfish is practiced now quite largely by 

 American fishermen in these parts, and I believe it will be very injurious 

 to the fishing-grounds. It destroys the mother fish, and as the fish are 

 taken all through the season they must be caught while spawning. 

 American fishermen for the sake of getting large cod throw the small 

 fish overboard, which tends to damage the grounds very seriously. 



7. It is considered by American fishermen a very great advantage to 

 be able to procure bait and ice in the Canadian ports adjacent to the 

 grounds, either by buying it or catching it near the shore.. It is more 

 profitable to our fishermen to buy it than to catch it, as a rule. If the 

 Americans could not procure bait on the Canadian shores I do not see 

 how they could carry on the cod-fishery. Bait only lasts about three 

 weeks in ice, and if we could not get ice here we could only preserve 

 our bait by salting, which is always considered an injury to bait. We 

 could not carry on codfishing with any profit on these shores if we had 

 to return to American waters and ports to get bait all the season. 



his 



JAMES + ARCHIBALD. 



mark. 



