1314 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



No. 188. 



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



of Washington. 



I FRANCIS LEBRUN, of Jersey, Channel Islands, at present residing 

 in Perce, the county of Gaspe, of the Province of Quebec, make oath and 

 say as follows : 



1. I have been living at Perce since 1857 ; since that time I have been 

 carrying on the lishiug business on my own account. I deal only in cod- 

 fish,'and employ ten boats. I am thoroughly conversant with every op- 

 eration connected with the taking and curing of fish. 



2. The quantity of codfish is as great now as it ever was, although 

 the number of fishermen and the quantity exported have increased very 

 much. 



3. All the fish prepared by me are exported either to the Brazils, the 

 West Indies, or to South Europe. The price obtained for this fish varies 

 from $4.50 to $8 per quintal. 



4. More than three-fourths (f ) of the fish taken on this coast, is taken 

 within the three-mile limit, and the fish taken inshore are always of a 

 superior quality to those takes outside. 



5. The baits forcod are herring, caplin, mackerel, launce, smelts, squids 

 and sometimes clams; all these baits are plentiful, and are all taken close 

 inshore ; some of them, caplin and launce, are taken from the shore. 



C. Since the Treaty of Washington cod and herring are taken in about 

 the same quantities as before. Mackerel this year are very abundant, 

 being much more plentiful than for some years back. 



7. The cod and herring spawn on this coast. I have often seen their 

 eggs and then the small fish here 



8. During the years of the Reciprocity Treaty great numbers of 

 American fishermen used to fish for mackerel along this shore. The 

 average number of these American vessels fishing annually in this im- 

 mediate neighborhood was from 100 to 150, all fishing within the three- 

 mile limit. The tonnage of these vessels ranged from 60 to 150 tons 

 each, manned by from 12 to 20 men. Their catch averaged about 500 

 barrels each trip. Many of them made two trips, and some even three. 

 Even during the years of the preventative cutters, the Americans 

 still managed to fish in the inshore waters by dodging the cutters. 



9. During the first years of the Treaty of Washington, there was still a 

 considerable number of American mackerel vessels seen on this coast. 



10. The inshore fishery for mackerel and herring is much more valua- 

 ble than the outside; in fact these fish are seldom taken far from shore. 

 The relative proportion of the two fisheries is as fifty to one I think. 



11. 1 am aware that the American Bank fishermen are constantly in 

 the habit of coming to the shore to obtain bait, either by taking it them- 

 selves, or by buying it from our fishermen. They also obtain ice, in 

 which they preserve this bait. 



12. I do not beliove that any vessel fishing on the Banks could carry 

 on the fishery with profit, or at all, without the privilege of obtaining 

 fresh bait from the shore, as the supply of bait on the Banks is very 

 uncertain, many vessels being for weeks at a time unable to obtain any. 



The privilege of entering our harbors to obtain wood and water 

 and to transship cargoes is a very valuable one to the Americans. 



The privilege of fishing in the United States waters is of no use 

 whatever to us. 1 never knew of any of our fishermen resorting to 

 those waters to fish. 



