1264 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



taken all inshore. The Americans buy these herring for bait all along 

 the coast ; by buying they save time and expense. 



9. I have never known or heard of any Canadian vessels going into 

 American waters to take fish, nor do I know of any benefit to Cana- 

 dians from this right. 



10. I have seen Americans running into harbors in Cape Breton and 

 Prince Edward Island to cure fish. When a gale of wind comes on 

 they do this. 



11. I have often seen the Americans transshipping their cargoes at 

 the Strait of Causo; by so doing they save time and expense and take 

 more fish. 



12. It is a great advantage to the Americans to get bait and ice along 

 the Canadian coast, and this they do from Cape Sable to Labrador and 

 wherever they can. Without this bait, and ice in which to preserve it, 

 they could catch no fish. 



13. When in the North Bay I have often been lee-bowed by Ameri- 

 can vessels, and I have seen them running into Nova Scotiau vessels. 



14. If the Americans were shut out from our inshore fisheries it would 

 be of great benefit to Canadian fishermen, and I know of no benefit 

 that we derive from American fishermen. 



JAMES PUBLICOVER. 



Sworn to at New Dublin, in the county of Lunenburg, this 9th day of 

 August, A. D. 1877, before me. 



BENJ. BYNAKD, J. P. 



No. 139. 



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

 Treaty oi Washington. 



I, DONALD McDouGALL, of Main a-Dieu,in the county of Cape Breton, 

 merchant, make oath and say as follows: 



1. I have been engaged in the buying and selling of fish for twenty- 

 five years, and am well acquainted with the fisheries as carried on here, 

 and am well acquiuted with the fishermen from Big Lorraine to Miri 

 Bay, and have done business with American fishermen. 



2. The fish taken in this vicinity during the past twenty-five years has 

 been codfish, mackerel, herring, halibut, and salmon. Formerly halibut 

 was very plentiful, so much so that our inshore fishermen could always 

 catch a fare, but since the Americans came here trawling for them they 

 have almost disappeared. The best halibut grounds are within three 

 miles of the shore, and on these grounds the Americans trawled. Our 

 fishermen never trawled for halibut. 



3. In this vicinity there are taken annually from five to six hundred 

 barrels of mackerel, and are not quite so plentiful as they have been ten 

 or fifteen years ago. There are taken in this vicinity about a thousand 

 barrels of herring. On average there is taken about from seven to eight 

 thousand quintals of codfish. The most of the people in this vicinity 

 depend upon the fishing, which they carry on in small boats inshore. 



4. The Americans have always been on this coast, year after year, 

 fishing mackerel. The Americans come inshore and fish mackerel, and 

 diminish the catch for our inshore fishermen. The Americans purchase 

 herring for bait very generally, and then go out on the banks to fish 

 codfish. The Americans around here have fished inshore for codfish 

 and halibut. 



