1270 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



Great hauls are made, more than can be saved, and they are killed and 

 allowed to run out. I have seen acres of the grounds filled with dead 

 fish, which, being small, the Americans throw overboard. And it is to 

 this practice of the Americans that I attribute the falling off during the 

 past year or two of the mackerel catch. There are as many fish as ever, 

 Umt they are glutted, and will not bite as formerly they did. 



7. I do not know as I could fix the value of the advantage derived by 

 each American fishing-vessel in being allowed to fish inshore, and get 

 bait and supplies from our ports, but I do not believe they could carry 

 on fishing at all with any kind of profit without these privileges. If 

 they could not bait in Canadian waters it would be impossible for them 

 to carry on cod-fishing on this coast. 



8. I know of no advantage which Canadian fishermen derive from the 

 privilege of fishing in American waters. The privilege is absolutely 

 worthless. No Canadian fisherman avails himself of the privilege. I 

 never heard of such a thing. Our fisheries are much richer and more 

 productive than the American grounds, and the Americans are always 

 saying so. 



9. If our fishermen had exclusive use of our own grounds, and were 

 not interfered with by American fishermen, we could double of catch 

 every year, and make much greater profits out of our efforts. We should 

 also be able to preserve our grounds, which are being injured every year 

 by American fishermen, not by destroying the fish, which are as abun- 

 dant as ever, but by preventing the catch by their system of baiting 

 and throwing offul overboard. 



his 



BRYAN + MURPHY. 



mark. 



Sworn to at Port Hood, in the county of Inverness, this 23d day of 

 Julv, A. D. 1877, before me, having first read and explained. 



A. MACDONALD, J. P. 



No. 146. 



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



of Washington. 



I, SIMON FERRIS, of West Arichat, in the county of .Richmond, and 

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



1. I have been a practical fisherman for nine years of my life and 

 during the past three years I have been engaged in the fish trade, so that 

 iny experience of the fishery extends over a period of twelve years. 



2. I estimate that about one hundred and fifty American vessels 

 yearly touch at the island of Madame for bait and other supplies. 



3. I believe that the American fishermen have injured our fishery 

 since 1871 by the use of purse seines, which, in my opinion, are very in- 

 jurious to the fishery, as they tend to break up the schools and drive 

 the fish away. 



4. The herring are all caught within three miles of the shore, and on 

 this coast all the mackerel are caught within the same distance from 

 the shore. 



5. The best mackerel in the market are caught in Canadian waters 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. All the best of the mackerel called "Ameri- 

 can mackerel" are, in reality, caught in Canadian waters. 



C. The privilege of landing and drying nets and curing fish on our 



