1302 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



3. With regard to codfish, I think the number of fish on the grounds 

 is as great as it ever was ; though each individual boat may not take so 

 many as formerly, still there are very many more boats now than then, 

 and the quantity of fish exported annually is much greater now. The 

 best quality of codfish is that taken close inshore. 



4. I do not believe that any vessel fishing on the Banks conld carry 

 on that fishery with success and make a paying voyage without the 

 privilege of coming inshore to buy or take bait, as the supply of bait 

 on the Banks is very uncertain. 



5. I have often seen American Bank-fishing vessels come close inshore, 

 within the three-mile limit, to take bait; they also came frequently in- 

 shore to get wood and water. 



6. The mackerel school inshore, and the bulk of them is taken inshore. 

 They feed on the small fish and the shrimps in the shallow shore water. 



7. Prior to the year 1854 a considerable number of American schoon- 

 ers fished in our inshore waters here for mackerel. In 1853 one of them 

 was taken and confiscated by a British frigate, the Devastation. From 

 the year 1854 till the expiration of the period of licenses, a very large 

 number of American schooners fished on this coast for mackerel. I have 

 seen as many as 60 at one time in the offing. The average annual num- 

 ber of United States mackerel schooners that visited the coast above 

 mentioned, during that period, I estimate at not less than 200. They 

 averaged, I should think, 80 tons, and carried crews of from 15 to 20 

 men. All their vessels took full fares ; many of them made two voyages. 

 They took each trip, I should think, from six to eight hundred (800) bar- 

 rels. Most of this fish was taken inside the three mile limit. 



8. It was a common habit with the Americans when fishing for mack- 

 erel to come close inshore among our boats that were also fishing for 

 mackerel, and by throwing overboard bait plentifully and allowing their 

 vessel to slowly drift outside, to draw the fish away from our boats 

 outside. 



9. The herring and cod spawn in great numbers on this coast. 



10. The American free market for our fish is not of the least use to 

 us, for our fish are prepared for either our own market or for warm 

 countries, where they find a better market than in the United States. 



11. The privilege of fishing in the United States waters is of no value 

 to us whatever. 



12. 1 think it of great importance to us that our fisheries should re- 

 main entirely in our own hands. 



13. The practice of throwing overboard offals is very injurious to the 

 fishing-grounds. 



I hereby swear that the above statement is, to the best of my knowl- 

 edge and belief, correct. 



THOMAS C. REMON. 



The said Thomas C. Remon has sworn to the truth of the above 

 affidavit at Little Pabos, this fifteenth (loth) day of August, A. D. 1877, 

 before me. 



P. FORTIN, J. P. 

 No. 178. 



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



of Washington. 



I, WILLIAM O'CONNOR, of Little Pabos, of the county of Gaspe", 

 Province of Quebec, make oath and say as follows : 

 1. I am 50 years of age, and for the last thirty years have fished and 



